Hispanic Groups Differ in Drinking Rates, Alcohol-Related Problems: Expert Partnership to End Addiction

It examines such social harms as driving under the influence and alcohol-attributed violence but primarily focuses on health harms like fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), liver diseases, and cancers. Hispanic men are more likely than Hispanic women and non-Hispanic White (NHW) men to engage in high risk alcohol consumption (Caetano, 2003; Caetano, Ramisetty-Mikler, Floyd, & McGrath, 2006). Hispanic men experience disproportionate levels of adverse health consequences of alcohol abuse when compared to NHW men (Caetano, 2003). im bored and drinking gives me something to do Research suggests that Hispanic men present with alcohol-induced liver diseases such as alcohol steatosis and cirrhosis at significantly younger ages than NHW men (Levy, Catana, Durbin-Johnson, Halsted, & Medici, 2015). Inclusively, social consequences of alcohol use disproportionally affect Hispanic men when compared to NHW (Caetano, 2003). This study also aimed to (2) examine potential moderating factors of respective associations among acculturation orientations and bicultural self-efficacy with alcohol use severity.

Annual National Report

Latino Americans include a large proportion of Hispanics of Mexican descent (63.3% of the Hispanic population). Puerto Ricans account for nearly 10% and the Salvadoran, Cuban, Dominican, Guatemalan, and Colombian communities each have populations over 1 million in the U.S. CETPA, a Georgia-based nonprofit that provides behavioral health services to the Latinx community, created a media campaign in Spanish produced in partnership with local Spanish TV stations that educated the local community on opioid use disorder. Below are three examples of interventions healthcare professionals may consider implementing to reduce barriers to care and improve treatment outcomes for the Latinx community facing SUD. Some levels of care for treating substance use disorder and addictions involve inpatient programs that can last for 14, 28, or even 90 days. “Familismo” is a term used in Latinx culture that underlines the importance of family, a concept that treatment interventions may benefit from adopting.

Train and hire more Latinx social workers

Another common trope of many treatment programs is “you can’t help people if you’re not helping yourself,” an idea that isn’t quite compatible with someone who, for example, may be supporting their family financially. “We know that lots of people live in rural and suburban communities across the country, where public transportation infrastructure is basically nonexistent. That’s not even including methadone clinics, of which many people do not even have a methadone clinic in their county,” Vakharia says. To learn what might help improve the quality of care for Latinx populations, Psych Central spoke with Sheila Vakharia, PhD, licensed master social worker, former social work professor specializing in addictions, and deputy director of the Department of Research and Academic Engagement at Drug Policy Alliance.

Study population and design

The majority (approximately 90 percent) of all primary liver cancers are hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) (Altekruse et al. 2009). Alcohol-related and non–alcohol-related liver cirrhosis usually precede HCC and are the two most common risk factors (Altekruse et al. 2009; El-Serag 2011; Pelucchi et al. 2006). The relative risk for developing this cancer increases with increased levels of alcohol consumption (Pelucchi et al. 2006). By ethnic group, 2003–2005 age-adjusted incidence rates for HCC per 100,000 persons were highest among Asians (11.7), followed by Hispanics (8.0), Blacks (7.0), Native Americans (6.6), and Whites (3.9) (Altekruse et al. 2009).

A quota sampling design was used to enroll participants in Maricopa County, Arizona and Miami-Dade County, Florida. The target quota for Arizona was 100 participants and within Arizona we aimed to enroll 15 non-college student women, 15 non-college student men, 35 college student women, and 35 college student tips for coping with a narcissistic mother men. Prospective participants were recruited (1) in-person by distributing flyers, (2) posting flyers with tear-off tabs, (3) social media, and (4) by emailing an announcement that described the study aims and procedures to organizations and individuals who may have had access to the target sample.

The Discrepancy in Treatment Options and Outcomes Among Hispanics

One is known as selective migration—only people who are healthier migrate, so the first generation of immigrants is strong enough for the physical and mental challenges they face in their new country. Cuban-Americans tend to have lower rates of heavier drinking than the other three groups, said Dr. Caetano, who spoke at the recent Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse annual meeting. Sign up now for a weekly digest of the top drug and alcohol news that impacts your work, life and community.

1. Another common trope of many treatment programs is “you can’t help people if you’re not helping yourself,” an idea that isn’t quite compatible with someone who, for example, may be supporting their family financially.
2. Lack of economic resources has been reported to have detrimental effects to service access and completion that affects minority populations, particularly Hispanics and African Americans, at increased rates when compare to NHW (Alegría et al., 2006; Jacobson, Robinson, & Bluthenthal, 2007).
3. To learn what might help improve the quality of care for Latinx populations, Psych Central spoke with Sheila Vakharia, PhD, licensed master social worker, former social work professor specializing in addictions, and deputy director of the Department of Research and Academic Engagement at Drug Policy Alliance.
4. In this article, the gender-neutral term Latinx is used to refer to folks who identify as “Hispanic,” “Latino,” “Latina,” or “Latinx” in the United States.
5. Taking Suboxone (buprenorphine/naloxone) with other opioid medicines, benzodiazepines, alcohol, or other central nervous system depressants can cause breathing problems that can lead to coma and death.

However, further research is needed to identify the mechanisms that give rise to and sustain these disparities in order to develop prevention strategies. The contributing factors include the higher rates of consumption found in Native Americans and Hispanics, but more broadly range from biological factors to the social environment. More research on the relationship of alcohol to some cancers, diabetes, and HIV/AIDs across ethnic groups is also needed. There is limited evidence for how drinking differentially affects ethnic differences in breast and colorectal cancers and in diabetes and HIV/AIDS onset and care, and few findings for how alcohol-attributed harms vary across ethnic subgroups. Levels of acculturation could also greatly influence alcohol use among this population (Castañeda et al., 2019; Zemore, 2007). Acculturation is a complex process in which a cultural exchange happens where individuals adopt practices and values of a host country while also retaining their own culture (Schwartz et al., 2010).

Although this is acceptable for survey research with general population, it is possible that nonrespondents are different from respondents regarding their level of alcohol consumption. Finally, in this sample, the adjusted regression analyses confirm that early onset of drinking is a strong predictor of binge drinking as well as alcohol volume. Other studies also confirm that the consumption of beer and spirits is different and tends to be more concentrated, with larger amounts (number of drinks) per occasion.

The 2023 NSDUH Detailed Tables present national estimates of substance use, mental health, and treatment in the United States. The tables include estimates from 2022 and 2023 where appropriate, liquid marijuana including statistical tests of differences between the two years. Please refer to the Methodological Summary and Definitions report for more information on the NSDUH survey.

This is because previous analyses of this data set (Caetano et al., 2008a, 2008b) showed that as a group they drink less, report less binge, and have fewer DUI events and lower rates of alcohol abuse and dependence than the other three groups. Their use as a reference group therefore means that odds ratios comparing other groups with Cuban Americans are higher than 1, which is easier to interpret and understand. Together, these theoretical models contain numerous constructs, many of which overlap conceptually. Although it is unfeasible to include measures of all of those constructs in survey-based studies, we can identify constructs that are similar across theories and evaluate their associations with substance use in smaller, testable models. Although numerous psychological and sociological theories have attempted to explain the development of substance use among Hispanics and other minority groups, fewer empirical studies have tested whether the constructs specified by the theories actually predict substance use.

Unlike other ethnic groups, in which men are primarily at risk for alcohol-related harms, both Native American men and women are high-risk groups. Hispanics have higher rates of alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities, suicide, and cirrhosis mortality. Blacks have higher rates of FAS, intimate partner violence, and some head and neck cancers, and there is limited empirical support in Blacks for a protective health effect from moderate drinking. These patterns of findings provide recognition of the health disparities in alcohol-attributed harms across U.S. ethnicities.