Surveying the Literature on Acculturation and Alcohol Use among Hispanic College Students: We're Not All on the Same Page

Abstract

During the past several years, a steadily growing body of literature examining acculturation and alcohol use among Hispanic college students has emerged. A review of this literature suggests that there have been (and continues to be) mixed findings regarding the association between acculturation and alcohol use in this population. Thus, the exact nature of this association is not clear. This paper provides an overview of this literature and outlines recommendations for future research that will help to elucidate the complexities inherent in this line of work.

Association of acculturation with drinking games among Hispanic college students

“…Taken together, the extant literature (including studies using both unidimensional and bidimensional models) does not indicate clear or consistent patterns of associations between acculturation and alcohol use among Hispanic college students, nor between men and women within this population (17). These discrepancies may be the result of differing operational definitions of acculturation across studies.…”

“…Most studies examining acculturation and alcohol use among Hispanic college students have employed unidimensional acculturation models (17). Some studies have yielded positive associations between acculturation and drinking behaviors (10,13), whereas others have found inverse associations (16), and still another reported no relationship (12).…”

“…Among Hispanic college students, acculturation has often been identified as a cultural correlate of drinking behaviors (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17). Acculturation is the process of psychological, social, and cultural change and adaptation that takes place when cultural minorities engage in extended close interactions with the majority culture (18).…”

“Try Walking in Our Shoes”

“…Moreover, the process of acculturation can encompass the extent to which individuals balance acquisition of the host society's culture with retention of their heritage culture(s) (e.g., see Table 1; Zamboanga et al, 2014). Acculturation has been a topic of discussion within the psychology literature (Ozer, 2013).…”

Introduction to the Special Issue on College Drinking Games

“…In addition, research that has examined the role of culture and/or acculturation [i.e. the cultural, psychological, and social change and adaptation that takes place when culturally dissimilar individuals or groups come in contact; (14)] in drinking game behaviors has been, up until now, non-existent. Using a large, multi-site sample, Schwartz et al (15) herein employed a bidimensional approach to examine how different aspects of acculturation (i.e.…”