Demographic and psychosocial risk for alcohol use: ethnic differences.

OBJECTIVE We examined the influence of demographic variables, and social (parents and peers), attitudinal and intentions variables regarding alcohol use on actual drinking behavior among Asian and white populations. METHOD Asian (n = 148; 79 female, 69 male) and white (n = 132; 72 female, 60 male) college students completed a questionnaire. RESULTS Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that social and attitudinal factors reflected a common construct of Psychosocial Vulnerability which, in a structural equation model, was significantly predicted by ethnicity. The white population was exposed to more psychosocial risks to alcohol use compared to the Asian population. Ethnicity, however, did not directly predict either drinking intentions or drinking behavior, after the effects on Psychosocial Vulnerability were considered. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that ethnic differences in alcohol use between Asians and whites are mainly due to different levels of exposure to risk factors. Effective prevention programs must consider, not only psychosocial factors, but also certain contextual factors such as sex and ethnicity.