Analysis of Acculturation, Sex, and Heavy Alcohol use in Latino College Students

Abstract

24% of 917 students at California State University Long Beach who completed an alcohol use survey in 2002 (73% response) identified themselves as Latino. Because measures of acculturation reported in most adult studies positively correlated with alcohol use and sex, it was hypothesized that these associations might also apply to Latino college students. With increasing levels of acculturation, women but not men in this Latino college sample reported significantly greater occurrence of heavy drinking, positive attitudes about drinking, and perception that most of their friends use alcoholic beverages.

Pregaming among Latina/o emerging adults: Do acculturation and gender matter?

“…In line with this assertion, when examining gender as a moderator, we found that gender moderated the association between acculturation and the amount of alcohol consumed while pregaming such that lower U.S. acculturation was associated with increased alcohol consumption while pregaming for Latino men whereas a different pattern was observed for Latinas. This pattern of associations is consistent with previous research linking higher levels of acculturation with increased alcohol consumption levels among Latino/a men and women (e.g., Raffaelli et al, 2007; Safer & Piane, 2007; Zamboanga et al, 2006). As illustrated in the figure, the relations between U.S. acculturation and pregaming quantity among women was weak, however, particularly when compared to the strong, inverse relations between the same two variables for men.…”

“…Consistent with this suggestion, Raffaelli and colleagues (2007) found that orienting toward the U.S. culture was positively associated with frequency of alcohol use for women whereas the opposite was found for men. Another study showed similar associations for Latina women with respect to the occurrence of heavy drinking being related to U.S. practices, but not for Latino men (Safer & Piane, 2007). Using a bidimensional approach to acculturation, Ceballos, Czyzewska, and Croyle (2012) found that higher levels of U.S. acculturation and lower levels of enculturation were associated with more frequent alcohol use among women; however, no such relations were found among men.…”

“…Acculturation can be defined the process of psychological, behavioral, and sociocultural change and adaptation that happens when people from different cultural backgrounds come in contact (Schwartz et al, 2010; see also Zamboanga et al, 2017). This acculturation process helps contextualize the lived experiences of many Latina/o emerging adults, and evidence suggests some aspects of this process predict health risk behaviors such as alcohol use in this population (e.g., Despues & Friedman, 2007; Perrotte, Baumann, Garza, & Hale, 2017; Raffaelli et al, 2007; Safer & Piane, 2007; Schwartz et al, 2014). A review of the acculturation and alcohol use literature reveals highly mixed findings, likely due to several limitations noted in literature reviews on the subject (e.g., measurement discrepancies, lack of attention to potentially important moderating influences, see Zemore, 2007; Zamboanga et al, 2017).…”

“…Further, researchers have noted the importance of considering the domains of acculturation (i.e., the practices, values, and identifications associated with both the U.S. and heritage cultures; Schwartz et al, 2010), although examinations of cognitive domains of acculturation in relation to drinking behaviors suggest these are not as robustly and proximally related to alcohol use as behavioral domains, as indicated by empirical findings (e.g., Schwartz et al, 2014). To date, most studies focus on the behavioral domain of acculturation in relation to drinking (e.g., Ceballos, Czyzewska, & Croyle, 2012; Raffaelli et al, 2007; Safer & Piane, 2007), likely because this domain indicates that an individual is participating in the activities that closely align with the mainstream society. Also, although acculturation has been studied in relation to numerous general and high risk drinking behaviors, to our knowledge, no studies (unidimensional or bidimensional) have examined how acculturation might be associated with pregaming behaviors.…”

Traditional Gender Roles and the Stress–Alcohol Relationship among Latina/o College Students

“…National data indicate Latina/os engage in heavier drinking than individuals from other ethnic minority groups (e.g., among adults, Cook & Caetano, 2014; among adolescents, Johnston, O’Malley, Miech, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2017), and most studies on college students suggest similar trends (e.g., Glassman, Dodd, Sheu, Rienzo, & Wagenaar, 2010; Safer & Piane, 2007). Furthermore, Latina/os endorse more severe alcohol problems than non-Latina/o whites (e.g., Mulia, Ye, Greenfield, & Zemore, 2009), rendering examinations of mechanisms underlying drinking behavior in this group highly important.…”