Perceived Discrimination and Substance Use among Adolescents: Examining the Moderating Effect of Distress Tolerance and Negative Urgency

Background: Perceived discrimination has been found to increase substance use vulnerability among adolescent populations. However, less is known about individual level factors which may moderate this risk. Objectives: The aim of the current study is to examine whether two emotion-based personality traits (i.e., distress tolerance and negative urgency) moderates the effect of perceived discrimination on substance use. We hypothesized that high distress tolerance would decrease risk, while high negative urgency would increase risk for substance use as a consequence of discrimination. Methods: 108 youth ages 12-18 (68.6% male; 56.2% African-American) provided data on perceived discrimination, distress tolerance, negative urgency, and substance use (i.e., alcohol and marijuana use). Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, no moderating effect was observed for negative urgency. Distress tolerance was found to moderate the relationship, but in the opposite direction than expected. Conclusions: It is speculated that this counterintuitive finding may be due to the racial/ethnic composition of the sample, suggesting that distress tolerance may operate differently among minority youth. Further research examining these relationships among minority youth is warranted.