Many view culturally competent care as simply providing interpreters or merely hiring bilingual staff. “If you are the breadwinner in your family, [you may think to yourself] ‘I will sacrifice my addiction treatment to pay the bills at home,’” Vakharia says. “Familismo” is a term used in Latinx culture that underlines the importance of family, a concept that treatment interventions may benefit from adopting. Here are some ways Vakharia suggests treatment can be overhauled to more adequately respond to the needs of the Latinx community on a systemic level, with societal and political support. According to a 2019 report of the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress, Hispanic workers earn 74% of what the typical white worker earns.
Given these mixed findings and the rapid growth and diversity of Hispanics/Latinos in the U.S., more current research is needed to examine the relationship between various social factors and drinking patterns in this population. Hispanics/Latinos include a diverse array of heritage groups, socioeconomic statuses, and degrees of acculturation (i.e., generational status, years living in the US, and language use preferences). Thus, inclusion of these data is essential to better understand Hispanic/Latino population’s risk factors for at-risk alcohol consumption. 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). Schwartz et al., proposed a multidimensional perspective on acculturation emphasizing domains of cultural practices, values, and identification of both the receiving community and heritage culture (Schwartz et al., 2010).
Implement a screening process for substance use in a variety of healthcare settings
Find up-to-date statistics on lifetime drinking, past-year drinking, past-month drinking, binge drinking, heavy alcohol use, and high-intensity drinking. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. American Addiction Centers (AAC) is committed to delivering original, truthful, accurate, unbiased, and medically current information. If you identify as Latinx and are in recovery and would like to be part of training healthcare professionals in providing competent care, consider checking out a training to become a peer recovery coach.
The AUDIT consists of 10 self-reported items with varied response choices on a Likert-type scale ranging from 0 to 4. Summed scores range from 0 to 40 with higher scores indicating higher alcohol use severity. A 2014 study found a relationship between substance use and discrimination among people from the Latinx community. While researchers observed some differences with regard to gender, whether people were born within or outside the United States, and ethnic subgroups, they nonetheless concluded that discrimination affected the health and well-being of all members of the Latinx community. For instance, research from 2015 indicates that Mexican Americans reported higher rates of alcohol use disorder, whereas Puerto Ricans were more likely to report illegal drug use.
These results are consistent with findings from a comprehensive review of 32 studies focused on acculturation and alcohol use among Latinos [15]. In this study Zemore (2007) reports that among all studies reviewed, there was a consistent association between higher acculturation and higher odds of drinking among women. Future research in this sample is needed to examine the mechanism by which acculturation leads to alcohol consumption among diverse Latinas in the U.S. One plausible explanation is the relationship of acculturative stress and alcohol use examined in other studies [32]. To our knowledge, the HCHS/SOL study is the largest contemporary study to examine alcohol use and contributing factors among diverse Hispanic/Latino heritage groups.
Expanding on this study primary focus can lead to the development of more cultural relevant effective evidence-based prevention and treatment programs targeting Latino immigrants with a presenting alcohol misuse or dependency diagnosis. The long-term outcome of such a new generation of alcohol use prevention and treatment programs will reduce the prevalence of problematic alcohol use behavior which is the most pressing substance abuse problem confronting Latino immigrants nationwide. The relationship between acculturation and alcohol use among Hispanics/Latinos has been examined extensively [11, 15]. In this study, women with greater acculturation were more likely to be current drinkers and at higher risk for alcohol use disorders.
Plus, Hispanic households are 1.7 times as likely to live in poverty than white households. Since it can be stressful when a person or group is treated differently than other groups of people, individuals belonging to marginalized groups may respond to discrimination with potentially harmful coping mechanisms such as substance use. Untreated mental health conditions are often cited as one possible root of substance use.
Still, the scientists acknowledged that their study had limitations and more research is needed. Learn up-to-date facts and statistics on alcohol consumption and its impact in the United States and globally. Explore topics related to alcohol misuse and treatment, underage drinking, the effects of alcohol on the human body, and more. Briefly, a stratified two-stage break the cycle of addiction with these strategies to keep dopamine in check area probability sample of household addresses was selected in each of the four field centers. The first sampling stage randomly selected census block groups with stratification based on Hispanic/Latino concentration and proportion of high/low socio-economic status. The second sampling stage randomly selected households, with stratification, from U.S.
A recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found that 28.9 million people were uninsured in the United States in 2019 and that Hispanic people were disproportionately impacted. In fact, Hispanic individuals were found to be over 2.5 times more likely to be uninsured than their white counterparts — or 19.1% compared with 7.1%. The United States Census Bureau estimates that 18.5% of the U.S. population is Hispanic or Latinx — more than 61 million people. Plus, the 2020 NSDUH reports that 18.4% of people with Hispanic or Latinx backgrounds were living with a mental health condition (other than SUD) in 2020. Discover how many people with alcohol use disorder in the United States receive treatment across age groups and demographics. Characteristics of Latino Immigrants with or without a family history of alcohol use at baseline.
What contributes to prevalence of substance use in the Latinx community?
Cultural practices include items such as language use, cultural customs, and social affiliations. In terms of identity, ethnic identification is the extent to which an individual endorses their ethnic group. With regard to US immigration, there is also Americanism or the extent to which an individual is attached to the US. Though each domain can have an influence of substance use, the retention of Hispanic cultural practices is considered protective against substance about step 12 of the 12 step program use including alcohol use (Schwartz et al., 2011). However, the influence of these cultural factors on alcohol use among Latino immigrants with a family history of alcohol use is largely unknown. These study results provide the framework for more in-depth exploration regarding the influences that a family history of alcohol use, alcohol outcome expectancies, and acculturation have on the alcohol use among Latino immigrants from Cuba, South and Central America.
- “We know that lots of people live in rural and suburban communities across the country, where public transportation infrastructure is basically nonexistent.
- In this study, women with greater acculturation were more likely to be current drinkers and at higher risk for alcohol use disorders.
- Overall, these findings underlie the importance of tailoring research and intervention programs to examine socio-economic and sex-specific factors contributing to alcohol use among Hispanics/Latinos.
- These four communities are diverse and provide adequate representation for comparing the different Hispanic/Latino heritage groups.
- Limitations for the current study should be taken into account when interpreting the results.
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. Bellevue Hospital in New York City, an addiction treatment clinic, provides holistic care by connecting clients to community organizations that assist with overall stability. Research from 2021 supports the idea that family-oriented treatment may help improve treatment outcomes, especially for young people with substance use. “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. Though research and awareness about mental health and substance use in the Latinx community is increasing, more still needs to be done.
Tailor substance use-related public health prevention messages
These four communities are diverse and provide adequate representation for comparing the different Hispanic/Latino heritage groups. All other reported values (means and prevalence rates) were weighted to account for the disproportionate selection of the sample and to at least partially adjust for any bias effects due to differential nonresponse in the selected sample at the household and person levels. The adjusted weights were also trimmed to limit precision losses due to the variability of the adjusted weights, and calibrated to the 2010 U.S. Census characteristics by age, sex and Hispanic background in each field center’s target population.
Results from this study show that prevalence and patterns of alcohol use vary among Hispanics/Latinos of diverse heritage, as well as by sex. Given the growing numbers of Mexican background individuals in the US, more research is needed to further examine factors that may contribute to at-risk alcohol use among this group. Further, more research is needed to examine acculturation levels and potential mediators (e.g., acculturative alcohol-related crimes: statistics and facts stress) and at-risk drinking for Hispanic/Latina women. Overall, these findings underlie the importance of tailoring research and intervention programs to examine socio-economic and sex-specific factors contributing to alcohol use among Hispanics/Latinos. The relationship between at-risk alcohol use and socio-economic status (SES) is unclear, whereby risk levels may be similar between low and high SES individuals.
When looking at those over the age of 18, the prevalence was even higher, with 13.5%. To transform treatment outcomes for the Latinx community, approaching care with a sociocultural lens may help. If you or someone you love is facing an SUD, consider reaching out to a trusted healthcare professional for an evaluation and to explore your treatment options.