Amie L. Nielsen

We enhance understanding of the prejudice-induced “color coding” phenomenon among whites by determining whether racial and ethnic prejudices are associated with a previously unexplored policy outcome, spending on drug rehabilitation. We examine attitudes toward both blacks and Latinos; the latter is a group largely ignored in previous research. We assess the impact of several types of racial/ethnic views, including those that manifest modern/indirect prejudice (e.g., stereotypes about violence, individualistic causal attributions) and those that reflect social-distance-based traditional prejudice (opposition to residential proximity and to interracial marriage). These relationships are examined using data from the General Social Survey. Bivariate results support the linkage between both traditional and modern prejudice and rehabilitation spending. Logistic regression analyses also indicate that support for rehabilitation is racialized: Attributing race differences in socioeconomic outcomes to “structural” factors, namely discrimination and lack of chance for education, is associated with believing rehabilitation spending is inadequate, controlling for the effects of other racial/ethnic attitudes and background factors. The relationship between this measure of modern prejudice and the outcome is consistent with color coding. The implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research that further examine the scope of color coding are offered.

In this article we examine the relationships between media exposure (television and newspaper) and drug addiction spending attitudes. Theory and research suggest the critical role of media for shaping views and influencing public opinion. However, no studies have considered media's impact for individual-level drug-related attitudes. We examine this using General Social Survey and other data from 1975 to 2004. Results from logistic regression analyses indicate that greater frequency of television viewing and of newspaper reading are associated with higher likelihoods of saying too little money is spent to address addiction. These findings are robust even when accounting for other factors.

This article examines the relationship between alcohol availability and nonlethal violence at the census-tract level in Miami, a multiethnic city with high levels of disadvantage and immigration. The effects of alcohol (total outlet rate) are considered from the perspectives of social disorganization and routine activities theories. Nonlethal violence is the average annual rates of robbery, aggravated assault, and total violence (combined aggravated assault and robbery). The analyses include corrections for spatial autocorrelation. The results show that alcohol availability has strong positive effects on rates of nonlethal violence and that the percentage of recent immigrants is also a significant positive predictor.

This study examines whether the adult social roles perspective. an approach that explains drinking behaviors for Anglos, similarly affects alcohol use by Cubans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans and Other Hispanics (Central and South Americans). The 1993 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, a national probability sample of the household population in the United States, is used. The sample utilized here (N= 13,822; 56.2% female) consisted of 9,388 Anglos, 611 Cubans, 2,459 Mexican Americans, 611 Puerto Ricans and 753 Central/South Americans age 18 and older. The outcome measures include past-year drinking, and for drinkers, heavy drinking and alcohol-related problems. Logistic regression analyses are conducted using Stata. The results show that there are some ethnic differences in the effects of the adult social roles. Of particular importance is the finding that being married has anomalous effects for Cubans (heavy drinking), Mexican Americans (problems) and Other Hispanics (problems) compared with Anglos and the other Hispanic ethnic groups. The adult social roles perspective has some utility for explaining Hispanic drinking patterns. Future research should consider not only traditional predictors of drinking but also such socio-cultural factors as acculturation and familism, to better understand adult alcohol use by members of Hispanic ethnic groups.

This is one of the first studies to examine and compare alcohol use for adolescent Cubans, Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics. The data come from the 1993 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), a national probability sample of the U.S. household population. The sample examined here (N = 1,865, 52% male) comprises 200 Cubans, 1,133 Mexican Americans, 255 Puerto Ricans and 277 Central/South Americans who were 12 to 17 years old. Drinking patterns are measured using a quantity-frequency index, and analyses are conducted using Stata. In the cross-tabulations, no ethnic differences in drinking patterns are found for males or females, nor is there evidence of gender differences within ethnic groups, although there are some age differences in alcohol use. In the logistic regression analyses, two ethnic differences emerge, although the factors most consistently associated with drinking behaviors in these analyses are age, Spanish language use and urban residence. Additional analyses using the 1998 NHSDA suggest that ethnic differences in alcohol use may emerge in late adolescence/early adulthood. Given the established findings of ethnic and gender differences in drinking among adult Hispanics, it is surprising that few differences are evidenced in adolescence. Future research should explore whether such differences emerge during the transition into adulthood and, if so, identify factors that produce them. In addition, to increase understanding of these ethnic groups' drinking patterns, future research should further investigate the factors associated with Hispanic adolescents' alcohol use, including both consideration of whether the predictors are the same across groups and of the role of sociocultural factors.