Alcohol Epidemiology among Border and Non-Border Mexican Americans

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is submitted in response to PA-05-029, "Social and Cultural Dimensions of Health". It proposes an in-depth household epidemiological survey of drinking patterns and alcohol-related problems among Mexican Americans living on the Border. The richness and scope of the study will be augmented by comparing the Border sample with a sample of 1500 Mexican Americans living outside the Border area, and interviewed in 2006 in Houston and Los Angeles as part of an already funded NIAAA grant. The proposed survey has the following aims: 1) To characterize beverage preferences, abstention level, drinking patterns, volume of drinking (number of drinks per month), binge drinking (5 or more drinks for men and 4 or more for women in a 2 hour occasion), as well as identify the sociodemographic predictors (age, gender, income, education, marital status, employment status, birthplace, generational status and religion) of these patterns of drinking among Border Mexican Americans as compared to non-Border Mexican Americans. 2) Based on a normative model of drinking (Caetano, 1987a, 1987b; Gilbert, 1985; Zemore, 2005), to examine the association between acculturation, alcohol related attitudes and expectancies, drinking and binge among Border Mexican Americans as compared to non-Border Mexican Americans. 3) To examine the association between drinking (number of drinks per month), binge drinking and perceived neighborhood characteristics (collective efficacy and indicated by social cohesion and informal social control, and perceived neighborhood violence) among Border Mexican Americans compared to non-Border Mexican Americans. 4) To examine the association between place of drinking (Mexico side versus US side), reasons for selecting place of drinking, drinking companions and frequency of drinking and binge drinking among Border Mexican Americans. 5) To examine the prevalence of alcohol-related problems (social, legal, interpersonal) and DSM-IV alcohol abuse/dependence; and to establish the drinking and sociodemographic correlates of these problems among Border Mexican Americans compared to Non-Border Mexican Americans. 6) To test a set of structural models that postulate the relationships among the factors discussed in specific aims 1 to 5 and the relationship between these factors and three outcomes: volume of drinking (number of drinks consumed per month) binge drinking and alcohol problems/dependence among Border Mexican Americans compared to non-Border Mexican Americans.