Parent–Child Acculturation Discrepancies as a Risk Factor for Substance Use among Hispanic Adolescents in Southern California

Abstract

Theories of acculturation predict that discrepancies in cultural orientation between adolescents and their parents will increase the adolescents' risk for behavior problems such as substance use. This study evaluated this hypothesis in a sample of 1772 Hispanic 9th grade students in Southern California. Parent-child discrepancy in U.S. orientation (defined as the difference between the child's U.S. orientation and the child's perception of the parents' U.S. orientation) was a risk factor for past-month smoking, lifetime and past-month alcohol use, and lifetime and past-month marijuana use. Parent-child discrepancy in Hispanic orientation (defined as the difference between the child's Hispanic orientation and the child's perception of the parents' Hispanic orientation) was a risk factor for lifetime and past-month alcohol and marijuana use. The adolescents' own Hispanic orientation was protective against lifetime and past-month smoking and marijuana use, but not alcohol use. In an analysis of mediation, U.S. acculturation discrepancy was associated with lower levels of family cohesion, which in turn was associated with higher levels of substance use. Results suggest that family-based interventions for acculturating and bicultural Hispanic families may be useful in decreasing the likelihood of substance use among Hispanic adolescents.

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Mortality of Hemodialysis Patients: Role of Dietary and Nutritional Status and Inflammation

“…Fourth is the low sample size in our nonHispanic White group and our combining both Hispanic and non-Hispanic White patients into a single 'White' category. However, given many highly acculturated Hispanics of the second and third generation in Southern California [53] , including among our MHD patients, we prefer to avoid strong inferences about ethnicity, whereas the racial distinction of White versus African American in our cohort was rather robust.…”

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Adolescent Substance Use: Mediation by Individual, Family, and School Factors

“…We identifi ed consistent individual, family, and school factors that may serve as important targets for future intervention research that is more culturally appropriate for younger adolescents of different racial/ethnic groups. Future research is needed to examine other individual, family, and school factors that may contribute to racial/ethnic differences in alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use, including sensationseeking behavior, parental attitudes toward substance use, parental monitoring, acculturation, and racial/ethnic make-up of school populations, which have been previously linked with early adolescent substance use (Beyers et al, 2004;Botvin et al, 1998;Chilcoat and Anthony, 1996;Fosados et al, 2007;Kim and McCarthy, 2006;Kopstein et al, 2001;Steinberg et al, 1994;Unger et al, 2009). In addition, studies with prospective data should examine whether individual, family, and school factors contribute to both age of initiation and escalation of alcohol and other drug use among younger adolescents over time.…”

Does the “Healthy Immigrant Effect” Extend to Smoking in Immigrant Children?

“…Indeed 28% of immigrant children who had lived 11-12 years in Canada had ever smoked, converging with the prevalence of 29% among their peers born in Canada to Canadian-born parents. Similar to their adolescent and adult counterparts, on moving to a new host country, immigrant children may need time to adapt to new cultural norms, to learn a new language, to adapt to feelings of not ''belonging'' to either the new or old culture, and perhaps even time to define a new cultural identity if traditional cultural norms are rejected in an effort to fit in [9]. The number of years lived in Canada is likely a proxy indicator for at least some aspect(s) of the complex process of acculturation, and may in fact reflect increased levels of acculturation over increasing length of residence in the new host country.…”