Mexican Family Culture & Substance Use Risk & Resilience

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案要求五年的支持，以启动对居住在加利福尼亚州萨克拉门托的600个墨西哥裔家庭和儿童的研究。这项研究将解决与早期开始使用药物有关的四个重要问题。首先，调查将检查美国一个至关重要的种族群体——墨西哥裔儿童对酒精、烟草和其他药物（ATOD）使用的风险和适应能力。在未来几年内，居住在加州的墨西哥裔美国人将成为该州人口最多的族群，这与拉美裔美国人的全国趋势一致。其次，拟议的研究将检查导致在儿童后期开始物质使用的发展过程。发展方法被广泛认为是告知创建有效干预计划的最佳策略，这些计划可以防止在早期开始使用ATOD，因为它最有可能产生严重的长期后果。然而，几乎没有关于墨西哥裔儿童使用ATOD的发展研究。第三，拟议的研究解决了家庭对ATOD使用开始的影响问题，这也被认为是早期预防的关键。最后，调查将采用最先进的研究方法来研究家庭对ATOD使用发展的影响，这种方法以前未用于墨西哥裔儿童。该研究是在一个家庭压力模型的背景下进行的，该模型提出了文化适应、少数民族地位、社会经济劣势、邻里和学校风险的过程会影响父母-父母、亲子、兄弟姐妹和同伴关系。这些关系反过来又会影响药物使用的开始和儿童适应不良的相关方面。同样重要的是，该模型预测，这种儿童适应不良综合症的一部分将包括危险的性行为，这将与ATOD的使用结合起来，影响艾滋病毒/艾滋病和其他性传播疾病的长期风险。该模型还提出，文化（尊重、家庭主义）、个人（如种族认同）和社会（如有效解决家庭问题）资源将减少风险，并为儿童和家庭产生复原力。这项研究的结果有望为更有效和文化敏感的早期预防项目的发展提供信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): This proposal requests five years of support to launch a study of 600 families and children of Mexican origin living in Sacramento, California. The research will address four important issues related to the early initiation of substance use. First the investigation will examine risk for and resilience to alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use in a critically important ethnic group in the U.S., children of Mexican origin. Mexican Americans living in California will become the most populous ethnic group in the state within the next several years, consistent with national trends for Latinos. Second, the proposed study will examine developmental processes leading to the initiation of substance use beginning in late childhood. A developmental approach is widely considered to be the best strategy for informing the creation of effective intervention programs that can prevent the initiation of ATOD use at an early age, when it is most likely to have severe long-term consequences. However, there are almost no developmental studies of ATOD use for children of Mexican origin. Third, the proposed research addresses the issue of family influences on the initiation of ATOD use, also considered crucial for early prevention. Finally, the investigation will employ state-of-the-art research methodologies for studying family influences on the development of ATOD use, an approach not previously used with children of Mexican origin. The study is framed within the context of a family stress model, which proposes that processes of acculturation, minority status, socioeconomic disadvantage, and neighborhood and school risks will affect parent-parent, parent-child, and sibling and peer relationships. These relationships, in turn, are expected to influence the initiation of substance use and related dimensions of child maladjustment. Also important, the model predicts that part of this syndrome of child maladjustment will include risky sexual behaviors, which are expected to combine with ATOD use to affect long-term risk for HIV/AIDs and other STDs. The model also proposes that cultural (respect, familism), personal (e.g., ethnic identity) and social (e.g., effective family problem solving) resources will diminish risk and generate resilience for children and families. Results of the study are expected to inform the development of more effective and culturally sensitive early prevention programs.