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Domains of Acculturation and Their Effects on Substance Use and Sexual Behavior in Recent Hispanic Immigrant Adolescents

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Abstract

This study evaluated the immigrant paradox by ascertaining the effects of multiple components of acculturation on substance use and sexual behavior among recently immigrated Hispanic adolescents primarily from Mexico (35 %) and Cuba (31 %). A sample of 302 adolescents (53 % boys; mean age 14.51 years) from Miami (n = 152) and Los Angeles (n = 150) provided data on Hispanic and US cultural practices, values, and identifications at baseline and provided reports of cigarette use, alcohol use, sexual activity, and unprotected sex approximately 1 year later. Results indicated strong gender differences, with the majority of significant findings emerging for boys. Supporting the immigrant paradox (i.e., that becoming oriented toward US culture is predictive of increased health risks), individualist values predicted greater numbers of oral sex partners and unprotected sex occasions for boys. However, contrary to the immigrant paradox, for boys, both US practices and US identification predicted less heavy drinking, fewer oral and vaginal/anal sex partners, and less unprotected vaginal/anal sex. Ethnic identity (identification with one’s heritage culture) predicted greater numbers of sexual partners but negatively predicted unprotected sex. Results indicate a need for multidimensional, multi-domain models of acculturation and suggest that more work is needed to determine the most effective ways to culturally inform prevention programs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami, 1425 N.W. 10th Avenue, Room 321, Miami, FL, 33136, USA

    Seth J. Schwartz, Shi Huang & José Szapocznik

  2. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Jennifer B. Unger, Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati, Daniel W. Soto & Monica Pattarroyo

  3. Barry University, Miami Shores, FL, USA

    Sabrina E. Des Rosiers

  4. University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Elma I. Lorenzo-Blanco

  5. Smith College, Northampton, MA, USA

    Byron L. Zamboanga

  6. Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Juan A. Villamar

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  1. Seth J. Schwartz
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  2. Jennifer B. Unger
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  4. Elma I. Lorenzo-Blanco
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  11. José Szapocznik
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Correspondence to Seth J. Schwartz.

Additional information

The study on which this article is based was supported by Grant DA025694, co-funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse. We thank Dr. Judy Arroyo for her helpful feedback on an earlier draft of this article. Please address correspondence to Seth J. Schwartz, Ph.D., Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, 1425 N.W. 10th Avenue, Room 321, Miami, FL 33136 (email SSchwartz@med.miami.edu). All authors contributed substantially to the study and to this article. Seth J. Schwartz and Jennifer B. Unger served as co-principal investigators, oversaw the conduct of the study, and participated in manuscript preparation; Sabrina E. Des Rosiers scored and cleaned the data and participated in manuscript preparation; Elma I. Lorenzo-Blanco and Byron L. Zamboanga participated in manuscript preparation; Shi Huang conducted the data analyses; Juan A. Villamar, Daniel W. Soto, and Monica Pattarroyo managed the data collection efforts; and Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati and José Szapocznik served as senior cultural advisors and participated in manuscript preparation.

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Schwartz, S.J., Unger, J.B., Des Rosiers, S.E. et al. Domains of Acculturation and Their Effects on Substance Use and Sexual Behavior in Recent Hispanic Immigrant Adolescents. Prev Sci 15, 385–396 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-013-0419-1

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