Acculturation and Alcohol Use Outcomes: Incremental Roles of Bicultural Orientations Among Asian American Undergraduate and Graduate Students

• Published in: Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology 2020-10, Vol.26 (4), p.483-497
• Main Authors: Pham, Savannah, Lui, P. Priscilla
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acculturation; Alcohol Abuse; Alcohol Use; Alcohol Use Disorder; Asians; College Students; Coping Behavior; Female; Graduate Students; Human; Male; Multiculturalism; Social Norms
• ISSN: 1099-9809; 1939-0106
• DOI: 10.1037/cdp0000318

Objectives: There has been a steep increase in alcohol involvement and alcohol use disorder among Asian Americans in recent decades. Cultural orientations have been shown to be robust correlates of alcohol use. Yet, the literature is limited in illuminating within-group differences in the complex relations among acculturation, enculturation, bicultural orientations, and alcohol use. Most alcohol research has focused on undergraduate students; little is known about the roles of cultural orientations in graduate student drinking outcomes. Method: Asian American undergraduate (N = 357, 60.1% women, Mage = 20.32) and graduate students (N = 230, 30.4% women, Mage = 24.76) completed survey questionnaires assessing their levels of acculturation and enculturation, and alcohol consumption and drinking-related consequences. Results: Accounting for acculturation, enculturation was not associated with alcohol use outcomes. Acculturation was positively associated with alcohol consumption among undergraduates, and was negatively associated with various alcohol use outcomes among graduate students. Bicultural orientations indicated by Acculturation × Enculturation predicted alcohol use above and beyond acculturation and enculturation alone, and gender moderated these relations. Among undergraduates, women who scored lower on acculturation and enculturation reported more personal drinking-related consequences. Among graduate students, men who scored lower on enculturation reported more social drinking-related consequences, whereas women who scored higher on acculturation and enculturation reported lower levels of social consequences. Conclusion: These results can be interpreted in the contexts of social norms and stress theory, and highlight the possible protective roles of ethnic society immersion in alcohol misuse. Public Significance Statement Compared with individuals who are less immersed in both the U.S. mainstream and ethnic heritage cultures, Asian American undergraduate and graduate students who are more acculturated and enculturated experience fewer negative personal and social alcohol-related consequences, and there are meaningful gender differences in these associations. Whereas acculturation alone may facilitate higher levels of alcohol misuse for undergraduate students, results highlight the possible joint influence of acculturation and enculturation on alcohol use outcomes and the protective roles of ethnic heritage orientation against drinking-related prob