PORTLAND, Ore.
A study led by an Oregon State University sociologist runs counter to some assumptions that Hispanic immigrants tend to bring their drug habits with them to the United States.
It concludes that most such drug problems appear linked to pressures to adapt, maybe too quickly, to American ways, especially in the Pacific Northwest where many Hispanics lack the influence of families and of their culture.
The study found drug use among Hispanics in Washington State to be vastly higher than use among those still surrounded by their own culture. Washington, like Oregon, has a sparse, scattered and generally rural Hispanic population,
The report said the authors predicted that in a dispersed and isolated Hispanic population, the pressure to assimilate would increase the likelihood of substance abuse.
“Our analysis revealed that acculturated Hispanics were almost 13 times as likely to report current illegal drug use and more than four times as likely to report current hard drug use as non-acculturated Hispanics,” said the report, whose lead writer was Dr. Scott Akins, an assistant professor of sociology at OSU.
The 13-month survey, which ended in February 2004, was based on data from 6,713 adults, 1,690 of whom identified themselves as Hispanic. Of the Hispanics, 956 opted to complete the survey in English and were classified by the authors as “acculturated,” or assimilated, and the remainder were classified as “non-acculturated.”
The study was to be presented Sunday at the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting in New York and is to be published in the Journal of Drug Issues. It was co-authored by Drs. Clayton Mosher of Washington State University, Chad L. Smith of Texas State University and Jane Florence Gauthier of University of Nevada Las Vegas.
