Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Language use has been the single-most extensively used variable measuring acculturation among Latinos. This study tested whether acculturation measures other than language, such as generation status, time in U.S., affinity to culture of origin and/or to U.S. culture, explain additional variation on substance use as self reported by U.S. students of Mexican heritage. Additionally, the study also tested the mediational mechanisms involved in acculturation pathways such as differences in pro-drug norms, drug expectancies, and exposure to drug offers and drug using friends. Although it is well-known that length of residency in U.S. has a positive correlation with drug use, the reasons for the association is not well-explained. Some research suggests that birthplace and acculturation produce differential vulnerabilities in terms of protective mechanisms, which makes immigrant adaptation a complex process. Data for the study was collected in Fall of 2004; it is a gender-balanced sub-sample of 1,677 5th grade students of Mexican heritage from a baseline survey of a randomized trial. This is an ongoing longitudinal study of a culturally grounded drug prevention program in 32 schools in the Phoenix (AZ) metropolitan area. Using binary logistic regressions we found that time in U.S. was positively associated with alcohol, cigarette, and, marijuana use, controlling for gender, grades, family structure, age, and socio-economic status. Although this effect was suppressed, we found that in addition to time in U.S., affinity to U.S. culture had an unexpected ‘protective' effect on all substances and was mediated by drug expectancy for alcohol, refusal confidence for cigarettes, and personal pro-drug norms for marijuana use. Further, affinity to culture of origin had an undesirable effect for alcohol use, which was mediated by peer perception of substance use. Language use (termed as linguistic acculturation) had a significant effect only for marijuana use and was mediated through personal pro-drug norms. The findings suggest that even for very young children acculturation processes are not linear and have to be thought of as a complex mediational process involving not only normative orientation of immigrant children, but also their expectancies, exposure to drugs, and peer perceptions of substance use. Building resiliency through culturally grounded intervention at this early developmental phase not only involves engaging immigrant children at individual and group-levels but also understanding their acculturation context.