Chunk #98 — Theory of Heightened Risk of Drinking and Problems among Low-Income African American Men — Access to Standard Life Reinforcers — African American men versus European American men
Compared to European Americans, the rates of unemployment and poverty are higher among African Americans (Holzer, Offner, & Sorensen, 2005). African Americans are more likely than European Americans to be impoverished, 23% compared to 8%, respectively (McKinnon, 2003), and they experience unemployment rates that are twice as high (McKinnon, 2003; Stratton, 1993). Strikingly, over the past forty years, rates of unemployment have steadily increased among lower income African American men (Western & Pettit, 2000). Consistent with these findings, a Wall Street Journal analysis of over 35,000 U.S. companies found that African Americans were the only racial group to experience a net job loss during the 1990–1991 economic downturn: African Americans had a net job loss of 59,000 jobs, compared with a net gain of 71,000 for European Americans, 55,100 for Asian Americans, and 60,000 for Latinos (Sharpe, 1993 cited in Williams, 1999).
