Mexican-American Youth Drug Use and Acculturation: A Note on the Mitigating Effects of Contextual Dynamics

Abstract

This study reexamines the relationship between acculturation and illicit drug use among a sample of 186). Logistic regression was used to test the relationship between marijuana and cocaine use and two acculturation scales while controlling for structural properties and social dynamics characterizing use environment. Findings suggest that acculturation correlates with increased use of both substances when operationalized by language but not when measurement is based in social interaction. Gang membership was found to be a more explanative indicator of drug use than acculturation, suggesting that Mexican-American drug use is better understood through utilization of models factoring delinquent peer effects.

Acculturation, Social Context, and Drug Use: Findings from a Sample of Hispanic Adolescents

“…Though reliable data on adolescent Hispanic substance use has proved elusive due to the issues discussed above, acculturation has remained a salient factor in most studies of the phenomenon (Neff et al 1987;Caetano 1987;Gilbert 1987;Amaro et al 1990;Love et al 2006;Miller et al 2008b). The traditional view of the acculturative process suggests that as individuals become more assimilated they begin to adopt customs and behaviors common to the new culture.…”

“…Higher levels of acculturation have been previously linked to use of alcohol (Caetano 1987;Gilbert 1987;Neff et al 1987), cigarettes (Love et al 2006), marijuana (Amaro et al 1990;Love et al 2006;Miller et al 2008b), cocaine (Amaro et al 1990;Miller et al 2008b), and hard drugs such as PCP, heroin, LSD, barbiturates, and amphetamines (Felix-Ortiz and Newcomb 1992). Other research, however, has suggested that any perceived link is somewhat spurious and that acculturation actually impacts drug use through socialization and psychological factors (Barrett et al 1991).…”

“…In terms of the magnitude of this impact on drug use, research has offered estimates ranging from 28% more likely (Thornberry et al 1993) to 18 times more likely (Battin et al 1998) to four times more likely (Esbensen et al 2001) than non-gang youth. A recent study examining the effects of both acculturation and gang membership suggested that gang members were nearly seven times more likely to have used marijuana in the past year and nearly six times more likely to have used cocaine (Miller et al 2008b). Furthermore, this study also indicated that gang membership was able to partially mediate the relationship between acculturation and both types of drug use.…”

“…It is reasonable, then, to include gang membership in the current analysis since a significant body of research exists attesting to the saliency of the characteristic both generally, and, more recently, in relation to acculturation (Miller et al 2008b).…”

Extending the Theory of Planned Behavior to Predict Alcohol, Tobacco, and Marijuana Use Among Youth of Mexican Heritage

“…Country of origin or nativity was used as a proxy for acculturation status; however, researchers in the future should consider other, more nuanced acculturation-related variables such as acculturation level (Gilbert and Cervantes 1986;Miller et al 2008), language preference (Guilamo-Ramos, 2004Tonin et al 2008), or time spent in the U.S. (Borges et al 2006; Guilamo-Ramos) as potential moderators of the proposed mediation model. Furthermore, most Mexican-heritage youth in the current study were born in the U.S., including some with families who have lived in the U.S. for many generations.…”