P1249945249HvxzK

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Substance Use Patterns Among Mexican Americans
By Generation in the US Richard Spence and Lynn
Wallisch University of Texas at Austin, School of
Social Work, Addiction Research Institute
Introduction
Results
Alcohol and drug use and associated problems
have been found to differ between Mexican
immigrants and Mexican-Americans born in this
country. Some studies have also examined
generation of immigration, usually interpreting
it as an indicator of acculturation. However, in
areas of the country where Hispanic culture is
pervasive, generation and acculturation may not
have the same meaning.
Design/Sample
The findings come from an in-person survey of
alcohol and drug use conducted among 1200 adults
living in households on the United States side of
the Texas-Mexico border in 2002-2003. A sample
of 400 individuals aged 18 and older was drawn in
each of three sites 1) the city of El Paso, a
densely populated urban location of over 650,000
people 2) the less dense urbanized areas of the
Valley which is the familiar name for the lower
Rio Grande Valley, comprising small cities and
towns such as Brownsville, McAllen, Harlingen,
San Benito, Edinburg and Mission, with a combined
population of about 820,000 and 3) the rural or
semi-rural colonias in the Valley region with a
total population of about 200,000. In the urban
areas, the sampling utilized a multistage cluster
design, involving the random selection of block
groups, blocks, households, and individuals. In
the colonias, respondents were randomly sampled
from colonias that were stratified by size
(number of lots) and density (percentage of lots
occupied). This analysis compares patterns of
substance use indicators of need for treatment,
attitudes toward treatment among immigrants,
second, third, and fourth generation residents.
The three border sites are contrasted El Paso,
the urbanized areas of the Valley, and colonia
settlements in the Valley.

Methods
Discussion
In face-to-face interviews conducted in Spanish
or English and lasting about 45 minutes,
respondents were asked extensive questions about
their use of tobacco, alcohol, inhalants and nine
categories of illicit drugs drug and alcohol
abuse drug-related attitudes and perceptions
treatment utilization and barriers gambling
mental health family neighborhood and
demographic characteristics. In the
statistical analyses, respondents were weighted
to account for selection probability and to
conform to county census distributions by age,
gender and ethnicity. Significance tests were
performed using SUDAAN to control for the design
effects.
Generational patterns of substance use,
dependence and treatment attitudes differed
considerably among sites. The prevalence of
past-year drug use among immigrants was about the
same for all three sites. However, prevalence
doubled in the second generation in the urban
Valley and colonias but remained at immigrant
levels in El Paso. Drug use increased
monotonically by generation in colonias, while
showing mixed generational patterns in the other
two sites. Acculturation stress is lower in the
second generation but increases in El Paso in the
third generation. Generational patterns also
varied by site for substance misuse, need for
treatment, and attitudes towards professional
treatment. Generation also interacted with other
factors related to substance use. For instance,
daily contact with friends was a risk factor for
binge drinking in the first and fourth
generations but a protective factor in the middle
generations. These findings suggest that the
association of generation of residence in the US
with substance use may vary by geographic and
cultural settings. The border sample revealed a
high degree of biculturalism, even among higher
generations, and patterns of substance use by
acculturation were not always the same as those
by generation. In colonias, seeking professional
help for substance abuse problems is high in the
first generation and lower in the second and
third generations embarrassment is a factor
which caused some to not seek treatment and this
factor increases by generation.
This poster was presented at the College on
Problems of Drug Depenence Orlando, Florida
June 22, 2005. This study was supported by
NIDA grant R01DA14794.