144P
Substance Abuse Among Asian Pacific Islander Americans: Results from the National Latino and Asian American Study Related to Ethnicity, Native-Born Status, English Proficiency, and Gender
Asian Pacific Islander Americans (APIAs) are frequently portrayed as a homogeneous racial group unaffected by major substance abuse problems. Further examination of the literature, however, shows that research on APIAs is limited and that existing research depicts numerous variations in rates of use and abuse, service access and utilization, and outcomes among APIA subgroups.
APIAs represent a small but growing proportion of the U.S. population (5% in the 2010 U.S. Census) that is frequently overlooked in health and social services research. Not surprisingly, substance abuse among APIAs has not been studied comprehensively, whether that be due to APIAs being overlooked in national studies, examining APIAs as a homogeneous racial group, or falling short in understanding subgroup differences beyond ethnic origin (such as immigration status, English proficiency, gender, education attainment, and employment, among other factors).
As a preliminary step to better understanding substance abuse among APIAs, this study examines the relation to substance use of four characteristics: ethnicity for four subgroups (Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Other Asian), native-born status (U.S. versus foreign-born), English proficiency, and gender. We examine the relation of these independent variables to substance use in the last 12 months in order to better understand service utilization and to inform the implementation of culturally and linguistically competent care.
Methods:
Data and sample: We use the first wave of the National Latino and Asian American Study, which includes a sample of 2,087 APIAs collected from May 2002 to November 2003.
Design and measures: We developed a logistic regression model to examine substance abuse in the past 12 months (including alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, prescription drugs, or other drugs) using the independent variables ethnicity, native-born status, English proficiency, and gender. We included control variables such as age, education, employment, and marriage status.
Results:
Results show that ethnicity is a significant factor in predicting substance abuse (Filipinos have a 50% higher odds ratio than the other three ethnic subgroups). Moreover, the odds of native-born APIAs experiencing problems with substance abuse are 3.55 more likely than for those who are foreign-born. When native-born status and English proficiency are used as indicators of acculturation, these factors increase the odds ratio for substance abuse. Further, the odds of males experiencing substance abuse problems are 1.85 greater than for females, regardless of ethnic origin or native-born status. Overall, findings show variations in substance use and service need for specific subgroups as well as for more and less acculturated APIAs.
Conclusion and Implications:
Our findings suggest that moving beyond understanding APIAs as a homogeneous racial group will help us to understand variations in substance use and abuse. Examining the relation of specific APIA subgroup characteristics to substance use can potentially deepen our understanding of differences in service access and utilization among APIAs as well as inform the implementation of culturally and linguistically competent services.