A bi-national comparative study of health behaviors of Koreans in South Korea and Korean Americans in California

Ethnic Drinking Culture, Acculturation, and Enculturation in Relation to Alcohol Drinking Behavior Among Marriage-Based Male Immigrants in Taiwan

Drinking behavior among immigrants could be influenced by drinking-related cultural norms in their country of origin and host country. This study examined the association of ethnic drinking culture, acculturation, and enculturation with alcohol drinking among male immigrants in Taiwan. This cross-sectional survey recruited 188 male immigrants. Ethnic drinking culture was divided into dry and wet according to per capita alcohol consumption and abstinent rate in the countries of origin in reference to that in Taiwan. A scale, Bidimensional Acculturation Scale for Marriage-Based Immigrants, was developed to measure acculturation (adaptation to the host culture) and enculturation (maintenance of the original culture). Drinking patterns (abstinent, low-risk drinking, and hazardous drinking) were determined by scores on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test. There was a significant interaction between ethnic drinking culture and enculturation/acculturation on drinking patterns. Multinomial logistic regression models identified that for those from dry ethnic drinking cultures, a high level of acculturation was associated with increased low-risk drinking, while a high level of enculturation was associated with decreased low-risk drinking. For those from wet ethnic drinking cultures, a low level of acculturation and high level of enculturation were associated with increased hazardous drinking. High family socioeconomic status was associated with increased drinking, while perceived insufficient family income was positively associated with hazardous use. To prevent hazardous use of alcohol, health education should be targeted at immigrant men who drink, especially among those who have economic problems, are from wet ethnic drinking cultures, and demonstrate low adaptation to the host culture.

Substance use, age at migration, and length of residence among adult immigrants in the United States

In this study we scrutinize prevalence of current smoking and binge drinking among adult US immigrants, and examine whether age at migration predicts these two behaviors and moderates the effect of length of residence. Immigrant groups include those from Latin America/Caribbean, East and South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe/Central Asia, and Middle East/North Africa. Multivariate logistic regressions are estimated using cross-sectional data from the New Immigrant Survey (N = 7,397). Results show that patterns of smoking and binge drinking vary by gender and by region of origins. In addition, arriving at age 0-9 are directly associated with higher odds of binge drinking among adult women. Among adult men, age at migration moderates the association between length of residence and substance use. Specifically, length of residence has more detrimental effects for adolescent immigrants (arriving at age 10-18) on smoking, while its detrimental effects are more pronounced for childhood immigrants (arriving at age 0-9) on binge drinking. We interpret our findings within the critical period model in epidemiological research, concluding that adolescence and childhood are critical life stages that are associated with differential effects of length of residence when looking at smoking and binge drinking among immigrant men.