Implications for Prevention There is an increase in alcohol consumption by means of Mexican-American women with each successive generation following immigration to the United States.

Implications for Prevention

There is an increase in alcohol consumption by means of Mexican-American women with each successive generation following immigration to the United States. Changes in drinking patterns are conceit to be part of an acculturative proces in which these women adopt the behaviors and attitudes of women in the general population.

athwart the last decade, researchers have evolveed extensive data on the epidemiology of alcohol use and alcohol question s among Latino [populations.sup.1] in the United States (Caetano 1988a; Cervantes et al. 1991; Gilber 1989b; Markides et al. 1988; Trotter 1982) These data are remarkable for their consistency with venerate to several distinct features of Latino drinking patterns. First, an most distant gender difference exists: Latinas are abundant more likely to be abstainers or extremely light drinkers than their male counterparts; furthermore, Latinas are more likely than women in the general population to be abstainers or light drinkers, while Latino men drink more heavily than men in the general population. other while Latino men show one changes in drinking patterns on the subject of immigration and across subsequent generations, their drinking practices do not display the kind of linear acculturative change observ among Latinas: with each generation beyond immigrant status, the proportion of Latina drinkers becomes greater. Third, despite the overall light drinking habits among Latinas, comparison of drinking behaviors and related question s among major Latino subgroups (Mexican-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cuban-Americans) reveals that Mexican-American women report heavy drinking and question s related to alcohol more frequently than do Cuban-American women and slightly more frequently than do Puerto Rican women (Caetano 1988a).

In this article, patterns of alcohol use associated with acculturation among Latinas are discussed, with special attention to findings from studies of Mexican-American women Understanding factors that contribute to these changes can have important implications for the prevention of alcoholism among Mexican-American women and other Latinas.

ACCULTURATIVE CHANGE

archetypes of acculturative change are based forward the assumption that over time, behavior patterns, attitudes, and beliefs of an immigrant population will flow to resemble more closely those of the population they have take downed than those of the population they have left behind. The acculturative processe of dropping, modifying, and adopting cultural traits usually take place at different rates across several generations.

Changes in drinking patterns among successive generations of Mexican-Americans provide an interesting example of for what reason acculturative changes can differ according to sex In Mexico, sanctions against men's drinking are weak, while proscription of women's drinking is self-same strong. The normative drinking pattern of Mexican men can be described as les visit often high quantity (see sidebar for spells and definitions used to describe drinking patterns from end to end this article); most Mexican women are abstinent, infrequent, or les visit often low quantity drinkers (Caetano and Mora 1988) Shortly after entering the United States, Mexican men begin to drink more often (once per week or more often) while maintaining their high quantity patterns. from one side of to the other subsequent generations these men maintain similar patterns of oft-repeated heavy drinking; these patterns do not be seen to be affected in any consistent way according to increases in educational level or changes in social class (Caetano and Mora 1988)

In contrast, Mexican immigrant women do not change their patterns of abstinence or depressed frequency, low quantity drinking when they originate to the United States; in fact, several studies display that these women are more likely to be abstinent than women in Mexico (Caetano and Mora 1988; Gilbert 1989b) The in the greatest degree dramatic change in drinking habits is originate among the U.S.-born daughters of immigrant Mexican women (Caetano 1988b; Gilbert 1987 1989b) As shown in Table 1 the first stage of generational change involves an increase in the percentage of infrequent or les attend much [i]or[/i] regularly low quantity drinkers, along with a decrease in the percentage of abstainers among second-generation (that is, first U.S.-born) Mexican-American women The nearest stage involves the adoption of higher quantity drinking patterns among a greater percentage of women and further reduction in the percentage of abstainers; by the agency of the third generation, the drinking patterns of Mexican-American women more closely liken those of other U.S. women than those of women in Mexico (see Table 1) In addition, generational changes in drinking patterns of Mexican-American men are clearly and positively correlated with horizontal of education, income, and engagement (Caetano 1987 a,b; Gilbert 1987; Corbett et al. 1991)

THE connection FOR ACCULTURATIVE CHANGE

The processe involved in acculturative change are complicated (Yinger 1985): changes in a single trait, similar as drinking behavior, are embedded in a manifold of interacting lifestyle alterations that include frontage to new reference groups, changes in opportunity erection and acquisition of new parts and competencies. Moreover, behavioral changes are accompanied and influenced at alterations in cognitions, such as accepted norms, beliefs, and expectations. To date, studies examining psychosocial factors associated with acculturative change in drinking practices among Mexican-American women have been correlational in nature (see for example, Caetano 1987b; Holck et al. 1984; and Gilbert 1987) Despite their limitations in identifying specific causes, these studies have identified a number of factors that may contribute to acculturative change.