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Hispanic Drug Use Rises in US Culture |
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From Oregon State University: Substance abuse increases among recent Hispanic immigrants as they replace their traditional cultural beliefs with those of white Americans, according to new research presented today by Oregon State University assistant professor Scott Akins at the American Sociological Association's Annual Meeting in New York. Previous research on the effect of acculturation on drug use has been conducted in states with larger Hispanic enclaves such as California, Florida and the Southwest. In these states Hispanics are more likely to live in heavily concentrated ethnic communities, which may slow their acculturation or assimilation. Acculturation involves the adoption of new cultural information and social skills by an immigrant group, which often replaces traditional cultural beliefs, practices and social patterns. "In general, recent Hispanic immigrants are more family-oriented and have less tolerant views of drug and alcohol use," Akins said. "When Hispanics acculturate to dominant American society their substance use behavior appears to mimic that of whites, the culture they are acculturating to." The research also showed that acculturated Hispanics were almost twice as likely as non-acculturated Hispanics to report current binge drinking and more than three times as likely to report drinking continuously for days in a row without sobering up, also known as bender drinking. "In states such as California, you have large Hispanic enclaves that have a protective buffering effect for new residents. But we wanted to find out what was happening in Washington, a state with a relatively small Hispanic population (only 9 percent statewide), which is disproportionately rural and dispersed."
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