It is important to recognize that substance abuse treatment needs differ among client groups. As such, there are certain diversity issues that should be addressed by the providers of treatment services. First, service providers need to realize that certain ethnic and racial groups are more vulnerable to substance abuse problems than others; however, this is due more to socioeconomic factors than to racial or ethnic features. Evidence to support this view is provided, for example, in a literature review that was conducted by Wallace (1999). Wallace found that ethnic minorities are disproportionately found in poor neighborhoods, where the existence of liquor stores and marketing campaigns result in a large number of alcohol abuse problems. Based on this finding, Wallace claims that alcohol abuse among minority groups is due more to the “racialized nature of American society” than to differences in race or ethnicity (p. 1122). Kumpfer (1999) agrees with this basic point of view, noting that “many risk factors associated with inner city, poor African-American families occur not because of unique cultural differences, but because of the realities of growing up in poverty” (p. 1128). This finding is important because of the misconceptions that many people have regarding African Americans’ susceptibility to drug or alcohol abuse. In actuality, as both Wallace and Kumpfer note, the rates for such abuse are lower among African Americans than among Caucasians or Hispanics. Nevertheless, the risk factors as well as the health consequences are comparatively high for African Americans living in disadvantaged inner city neighborhoods.
A second diversity issue concerns the fact that peer influences are much stronger than ethnicity in predicting substance abuse among youth. This claim is supported by a study conducted by Flannery, et al. (1994), which compared more than a thousand Caucasian and Hispanic adolescents on their risk factors for possible substance abuse....