Meta-Analysis on the relation between acculturation and alcohol use among immigrant youth

• In Event: Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Given the increase in immigrant youth research, recent studies have specifically investigated factors related to alcohol consumption and acculturation. The immigrant paradox (Garcia-Coll & Marks, 2012) argues that second generation youth are more likely to commit risk behaviors like alcohol consumption than their less acculturated first generation peers (Lorenzo-Blanco et al., 2016). However, some also argue that less acculturated youth are more likely to be impaired by alcohol consumption than their more acculturated peers (Walsh, Djalovski, Boniel-Nissim, & Harel-Fisch, 2014). There are limited systematic reviews on this relation with the exception of specific reviews focusing on Latino (Lui & Zamboanga, 2018) and Hispanic populations (Lui & Zamboanga, 2018b). The present review is designed to address this gap in literature with specific attention to key demographic (i.e., ethnicity) and methodological (i.e., measurement type) moderators.
This meta-analytic review focused on whether there is a relation between alcohol consumption (alcohol use, drunkenness, binge drinking, and intent/risk) and acculturation. Specifically, we looked at whether the relation confirms or disconfirms the immigrant paradox hypothesis. The meta-analysis also followed up with moderation analysis of sample-based characteristics (e.g., location) and methodological characteristics (e.g., type of acculturation measure). To answer these questions, we developed a theory driven inclusion criteria and identified 38 published in peer-reviewed journals and 6 dissertations, totaling 44 studies and 67 independent samples. These studies represent a total of 64,418 immigrant youth (M = 976.03, SD = 1258.51) with a mean age of 14.48 (SD = 2.31).
The results of the review showed that the average effect size for the fixed effects model was .04 with a 95% confidence interval of .03 to .05 and it was significantly different from zero (p < .001). The average effect size for the random effects model was similar, .05 with a 95% confidence interval of .02 to .09 and it was significantly different from zero (p = .01). Taken together, these findings suggest that there is a positive relation between acculturation and alcohol consumption. In other words, there is an immigrant paradox where more acculturated youth are more likely to consume alcohol than their less acculturated peers.
Beyond main effect, as the Q-value for the main effect analysis was 962.96, p < .001, we found that the correlations included in the analyses were heterogeneous. For sample-based moderation analyses, location (US and other) was one of the significant moderators (Qb = 12.27, p < .001) where studies that drew samples from the US had statistically significant positive correlations (ES = 0.054, p < 0.001). Similarly, acculturation indicators specifically for the studies run in the US was one of the significant methodological moderators (ES = 0.054, p < 0.001; Qb = 24.478, p < .001). Studies that used generation status, language use, length of residence were found to have statistically significant positive correlations (ESGeneration = 0.060, p < 0.001; ESLanguage = 0.095, p < 0.001; ESLength of Residence = 0.164, p < 0.001; Qb = 24.478, p < .001). More detailed results from the moderation analyses will be discussed.

Authors

• Selcuk R. Sirin, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Elysia Choi, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Esther Sin, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author