African Americans who hold stronger Africentric world views are less likely to use alcohol (Brook & Pahl, 2005) and are more likely to hold negative views towards drugs, including alcohol (Belgrave et al., 1994; Belgrave, Townsend, Cherry, & Cunningham, 1997; Belgrave et al., 2000) than are other African Americans. Likewise, Herd and Grube (1996) found that high levels of Black awareness and greater involvement in Black social networks was associated with reduced drinking and reduced heavy drinking among African Americans. When considered together, both ethnic identity and Africentric world views appear to operate as protective factors (Nasim et al., 2007): adolescents with strong ethnic identities were less likely to engage in heavy drinking even with increases in peer drinking behaviors, and holding strong Africentric beliefs was associated with later age of onset, lower lifetime use, less peer risk behaviors (i.e., having fewer peers that engaged in risky behaviors) and reduced effect of peer pressure on initiation (i.e., the more Africentric one was, the less likely peer drinking would influence alcohol initiation).
