It’s clear that African-American Women with substance use disorder are underserved and under treated. The mortality rate for alcohol related deaths for African-American women has been reported to be under- served
between 2-4 times as high as the rate for white women.
T raditionally much of the research on substance abuse has focused on white men. Consequently, African-American women with addiction problems fall through the cracks. Yet the traumas these women, combined with lack of support, are often are the cause of addiction. In studies done on substance abuse in African-American women, significantly more substance abusing women report being battered, experiencing homelessness and other traumatic events. African-American
to the oppression of African-American programs has limited the effectiveness of recovery efforts for those in treatment (Saulnier, 1996). That is, of course, only relevant for those that make it to treatment. For the most part, poverty and social structures are barriers to psychological services and addiction recovery. Many treatment centers are costly, far away from urban inner cities and many African-American women lack the ability or resources to access them. Stigma contributes to lack of treatment as well. African-American women are often seen as the sole providers of the family, nurturers and caretakers. This creates a lot of pressure and stress to maintain the household, though, without relying on outside help. There is a correlation between African-American women who abuse substances and isolation and lack of social support. In fact, lack of community and social support is often one of the main factors for relapse. Spirituality plays a role as well, as spirituality is a key coping mechanism for many African-American women. Ones that report abusing substances, however, also reported less
U N D E R - S E R V E D
“African-American women with histories of
women with histories of substance abuse are more likely to report history of parental substance abuse and childhood abuse. Additionally, they also report less involvement in spiritual practices and less social support systems in their life, as well as more stressful life events, including incidents of racism.
substance abuse are more likely to report history of parental substance abuse and childhood abuse.”
For many African-American women, racism contributes to their alcohol and drug consumption, as they turn to drugs or alcohol to cope with incidents of racism, internalized racism, and the aftereffects of trauma. Treatment programs fail to address these factors. Lack of recognition and attention
involvement with the church and less spiritual practices. African-American women who are active and involved in a church have more disapproving attitudes of drug and alcohol use. For recovering African-American alcoholics, spirituality is an essential component to maintaining sobriety. It’s clear that African-American Women with substance use disorder are underserved and under treated. The mortality rate for alcohol related deaths for African-American women has been reported to be between 2-4 times as high as the rate for white women. More needs to be done to address and treat addiction in the African-American community and specifically, with African-American women.
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