Moderators of Ethnic Discrimination on Binge Drinking Among Adolescent Hispanic Immigrants: A Longitudinal Study

INTRODUCTION: Hispanics in middle adolescence (ages 14-17) report a high prevalence of binge drinking (24.0%). Normative developmental stressors associated with adolescence partly explain why some adolescents initiate alcohol consumption and may subsequently misuse alcohol. However, Hispanic adolescents may experience additional sociocultural stressors such as ethnic discrimination. To better understand the relationship between ethnic discrimination on alcohol risk behaviors (e.g., binge drinking) there is a need to identify sociodemographic (geographic location), interpersonal (social support), and cultural (ethnic identity) factors that may function as moderators. METHOD: The present study used the first two time-points of a longitudinal study. Participants included adolescent Hispanic immigrants from Los Angeles (n=150) and Miami (n=152) who had resided in the U.S. for five years or less at baseline. The mean age at baseline was 14.51 years. The time 2 retention rates were 96% in Miami and 88% in Los Angeles. Logistic regression was used to estimate the main effects of ethnic discrimination and proposed moderating variables on binge drinking in the past 90 days. The following variables were tested as moderators between ethnic discrimination and binge drinking: gender, geographic location, social support, ethnic identity, American identity, and familism. All analyses controlled for age, gender, study site/geographic location, years in U.S., and parental education (except when included in the moderation interaction term). RESULTS: Logistic regression results indicate that higher levels of ethnic discrimination were associated with higher odds of binge drinking (OR = 1.15, 95% CI [1.07, 1.24]). No other variables resulted in statistically significant associations. Moderation analysis indicate a statistically significant interaction between perceived ethnic discrimination and American identity (p=.038). This interaction suggests that lower levels of ethnic discrimination were associated with higher predicted probability of binge drinking among those with low American identity. As perceived ethnic discrimination increased so did the probability of binge drinking approximately to the same level for all quartiles of American identity. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that perceived ethnic discrimination can predict binge drinking prospectively. Lower levels of American identity may exacerbate the effect of perceived ethnic discrimination on binge drinking. As such, alcohol prevention programs may benefit by addressing perceived ethnic discrimination and American identity.