Understanding Networking and Alcohol Consumption among Recent Immigrants

描述（由申请人提供）： 拟议的研究探讨机制符合社会学习理论的运作在社交网络。它规定了特定的社会环境是如何通过网络来影响健康行为的，例如，文化适应导致网络的变化，而网络的特性则影响健康行为，正如行为的生态框架所禁止的那样（Hovell et al. In Press; Glass et al. 2005）。它将增加社交网络和社会环境如何影响酒精消费和相关健康风险的知识，以及移民和文化适应在美国两个快速增长的第一代移民群体中的作用。第一代韩国人和讲普通话的中国人经历了与移民到美国有关的破坏性，压力，有时甚至是创伤性的经历，这些可能导致酒精问题。该研究还调查了生态影响（例如，执法、性别、当前和传统文化规范等）关于发展的社交网络的类型，（例如，网络种族排他性的程度）以及不断发展的网络和生态对健康风险的综合影响。我们通过调查社会网络模式及其对饮酒行为的影响如何因文化适应、在美国居住的时间长短年龄、性别、居住地点，并使用描述以前和目前网络的报告，与原籍国不同。本研究的具体目的是：1）识别和描述第一代韩国和中国移民在移民时经历的社交网络和这些网络的变化，以及这些网络如何随时间演变，2）测试涉及社交网络的特定内源性和外源性特征与酒精相关健康风险之间关联的假设。这项研究将通过社交网络为健康干预措施的设计提供信息，以有效地减少与酒精相关的健康风险。本研究探讨社交网络中的机制，包括社会学习变量（包括行为模式、社会支持、控制饮酒的自我效能等的存在）、文化适应和生态变量及其对社交网络内外饮酒的影响，它的目的是提供有关公共卫生干预目标的信息，以减少由于以下原因造成的健康风险：酒精用于后续干预。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed study explores mechanisms consistent with social learning theory that operate within social networks. It specifies how the specific social environments are mediated by the networks to influence health behaviors, e.g., acculturation results in changing networks whose properties then influence health behaviors, as proscribed by ecological frameworks of behavior (Hovell et al. In Press; Glass et al. 2005). It will increase knowledge of how social networks and the social environment influence alcohol consumption and related health risks and the role that immigration and acculturation play in that process among two first generation, rapidly growing, immigrant groups in the United States. First generation Koreans and Mandarin speaking Chinese experience the disruptive, stressful, and sometimes traumatic experiences associated with immigration to the U.S. and these may lead to problems with alcohol. The study also investigates ecological influences (e.g., enforcement of laws, gender, current and traditional cultural norms, etc.) on the types of social networks that develop, (e.g., extent of network ethnic exclusivity) and the combined influences of evolving networks and ecology on health risks. We address these concerns by investigating how social network patterns and their influence on drinking behaviors vary by acculturation, length of residence in the U.S., age, gender, residential location, and differ from that in the country of origin using reports describing previous and current networks. The specific aims for the study are to: 1) To identify and describe social networks and changes in these networks that first generation Korean and Chinese immigrants experience upon immigration, and how these networks evolve with time, and 2) to test hypotheses involving associations between specific endogenous and exogenous characteristics of social networks and health risks involving alcohol. This study will inform the design of health interventions through social networks to efficaciously reduce alcohol related health risks. The proposed study explores the mechanisms within social networks, including social learning variables (including the presence of models of behavior, social support, self efficacy to control drinking, and others), acculturation, and ecological variables and their effects on drinking inside and outside the social network, and among first generation Chinese and Korean immigrants to the U.S. It is designed to produce information concerning targets for public health interventions to reduce health risks due to alcohol for subsequent interventions.