Acculturation and alcohol use among Asian Americans: A meta-analytic review.

Abstract

Acculturation has been considered a key sociocultural factor that helps explain Asian American's mental health outcomes, including alcohol use. Yet, findings on the degree to which acculturation is directly linked to alcohol use have been mixed. The present meta-analysis reviewed original studies published since 1979, and tested the association between acculturation and alcohol use outcomes among Asian Americans across age groups. Analyses also examined the extent to which participant and methodological variables moderated this relation. A systematic literature review yielded 31 published research reports that were eligible for the meta-analysis. Across 39 independent study samples (N = 28,028), analysis with random-effects model estimated a small and statistically significant mean weighted correlation between acculturation and alcohol use (r = .06, p < .05). Acculturation appeared to be more robustly associated with alcohol consumption and intensity of hazardous alcohol use, but not drinking-related problems. Most studies examined acculturation as a unidimensional construct. Within study samples that conceptualized acculturation as a bidimensional construct, alcohol use was positively associated with acculturation (orientation to the mainstream host culture) but negatively associated with enculturation (orientation to the Asian heritage culture). Statistically significant between-study variability (Q[38] = 876.62, p < .001, I2 = 95.67%) was accounted for by gender, age, and geographical location. Limitations to the scope of this meta-analysis regarding the observational nature of study effect sizes, sample-level analyses, and focus on self-report survey data, as well as future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

A Critical Review and Meta‐Analysis of the Associations Between Acculturation and Alcohol Use Outcomes Among Hispanic Americans

“…Our results on the omnibus association between acculturation and alcohol use outcomes with Hispanic Americans are similar to those with Asian Americans (Lui and Zamboanga, ). The present findings contributed to the literature in 3 important ways.…”

“…Among factors that predict alcohol use outcomes in the Hispanic American community, acculturation has been identified as a key factor that helps explain ethnic differences in drinking patterns. Similar to research with Asian Americans (Lui and Zamboanga, ), research with Hispanics has shown inconsistent results pertaining to the associations between acculturation and alcohol use outcomes: Whereas some studies showed statistically significant bivariate or multivariate associations, others indicated that acculturation was unrelated to alcohol use (Zamboanga et al., ; Zemore, ). A recent meta‐analysis of 31 studies with Hispanic adults (Alvarez et al., ) showed a modest correlation ( r = 0.16) between acculturation and alcohol consumption (including drinking frequency, average volume, and overall quantity).…”

“…This latter perspective assumes that people can acquire or retain the American and traditional Latino ways of life simultaneously (Berry, ; Schwartz and Zamboanga, ; Schwartz et al., ). Recent research with a bidimensional conceptualization of the acculturation process has tended to define acculturation as U.S. mainstream cultural orientation and enculturation as traditional heritage cultural orientation (Lui and Zamboanga, ; Yoon et al., ).…”

“…Two plausible mechanisms have been discussed to explain the associations between acculturation and alcohol use outcomes (Lui and Zamboanga, ; Vaeth et al., ). First, Hispanics who adhere to the mainstream U.S. culture also may adopt its more liberal drinking norms, attitudes, and beliefs surrounding alcohol, therefore resulting in higher levels of alcohol use (Zemore, ).…”

The Association between Changes in External Environment Caused by Migration and Inappropriate Antibiotic Use Behaviors among Chinese University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…The process of acculturation takes place over time, and it involves cultural groups with different characteristics that may affect an individual's health and health behavior choices [31]. Relevant studies have provided robust evidence for the existence of a correlation between acculturation and subsequently-changed health behaviors, including prescription drug abuse [32], drinking [33], and smoking [34] among immigrants living in the United States. Thus, acculturation may play an important role in the changes in antibiotic use behaviors among these migrant university students, which warrants further investigation.…”