Resilience moderates the association between discrimination distress on substance use expectancies among Latinx adolescents

Latinx adolescents who experience discrimination distress are at greater risk for substance use. The present study examined whether Latinx adolescents with greater levels of resilience were protected from positive substance use expectancies, which have shown to be early predictors of substance use. Participants were 113 Latinx-identified adolescents [(<i>M</i>_age= 12.58; <i>SD_age</i> = 1.11); 51.3% female] who reported on average 7.17 instances of discrimination in their lifetime (<i>SD</i> = 7.24). Participants were recruited from three large, diverse, suburban, and urban schools with a high number of students receiving free/reduced-price school. Latinx adolescents who experienced discrimination distress and had greater levels of resilience were more protected from holding positive substance use expectancies than those with lower levels of resilience, above and beyond the effects of general stress and age. The results showed that resilience plays an important protective role against positive substance use expectancies for early Latinx adolescents who experience discrimination distress.