Research on health among Latinos often focuses on acculturation processes and the associated stressors that influence drinking behavior. Given the common use of acculturation measures and the state of the knowledge on alcohol-related health among Latino populations, the current analyses tested the efficacy of acculturation measures to predict various indicators of alcohol consumption. Specifically, this quantitative review assessed the predictive utility of acculturation on alcohol consumption behaviors (frequency, volume, and quantity). Two main analyses were conducted-a p-curve analysis and a meta-analysis of the observed associations between acculturation and drinking behavior. Results demonstrated that current measures of acculturation are a statistically significant predictor of alcohol use (Z = -20.75, p < 0.0001). The meta-analysis included a cumulative sample size of 29,589 Latino participants across 31 studies. A random-effects model yielded a weighted average correlation of 0.16 (95% confidence interval = 0.12, 0.19). Additional subgroup analyses examined the effects of gender and using different scales to measure acculturation. Altogether, results demonstrated that acculturation is a useful predictor of alcohol use. In addition, the meta-analysis revealed that a small positive correlation exists between acculturation and alcohol use in Latinos with a between-study variance of only 1.5% (τ = 0.015). Our analyses reveal that the association between current measures of acculturation and alcohol use is relatively small.
Perceived discrimination (PD) is reliably and strongly associated with partisan identity (PID) among US immigrant minorities such as Latinos and Asian Americans. Yet whether PD causes PID remains unclear, since it is possible that partisanship influences perceptions of discrimination or that other factors drive the observed association. Here, we assess the causal influence of group-level PD on PID using five experiments with Latino and Asian American adults. These experiments varied in important ways: they took place inside and outside the lab, occurred prior to and during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and tested different manifestations of PD and partisan attitudes (total n = 2,528). These efforts point to a simple but unexpected conclusion: our experiments and operationalizations do not support the claim that group-targeted PD directly causes PID. These results have important implications for understanding partisanship among immigrants and their co-ethnics and the political incorporation of Latinos and Asian Americans.
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