Drug Use, Abuse and Dependence, and Treatment among US Immigrants

• In Event: 3129 - Section on Medical Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 17. Drug Use and Abuse

Abstract

In this paper we use data from Wave 1 and Wave 2 of the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) to examine how immigrant status and race/ethnicity are related to drug use, abuse/dependence, and treatment seeking among US adults. The results show a strong association between both immigrant status and race/ethnicity and drug use and treatment seeking, but not abuse/dependence. However, when we control for sociodemographic, acculturation, stress, discrimination, and social ties, the estimated effects of immigrant status and/or race/ethnicity become non-significant for drug use and treatment. The effect of race/ethnicity remains significant for use of drugs other than marijuana and for treatment, but the effects are due primarily to a large effect of being of African origin for drug use and of being of African or Asian origin for treatment. Also, abuse/dependence is an important predictor of seeking treatment, but the effect does not vary by immigrant status, although respondents of African origin are less likely to seek treatment.

Authors

• Magdalena Szaflarski, University of Alabama at Birmingham

• Lisa A. Cubbins, Battelle Seattle Research Center

• Daniel H. Klepinger, Retired