International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume 13, Issue 11, 2016

Drinking and driving among recent latino immigrants: The impact of neighborhoods and social support (Article) (Open Access)

Sanchez M.* , Romano E. , Dawson C. , Huang H. , Sneij A. , Cyrus E. , Rojas P. , Cano M.Á. , Brook J. , De La Rosa M.
  • a Center for Research on U.S. Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA), Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, AHC5-421, Miami, FL 33199, United States
  • b Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 11720 Beltsville Drive Suite 900, Calverton, MD 20705-3111, United States
  • c Center for Research on U.S. Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA), Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, AHC5-421, Miami, FL 33199, United States
  • d Center for Research on U.S. Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA), Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, AHC5-421, Miami, FL 33199, United States
  • e Center for Research on U.S. Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA), Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, AHC5-421, Miami, FL 33199, United States
  • f Center for Research on U.S. Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA), Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, AHC5-421, Miami, FL 33199, United States
  • g Center for Research on U.S. Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA), Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, AHC5-421, Miami, FL 33199, United States
  • h Center for Research on U.S. Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA), Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, AHC5-421, Miami, FL 33199, United States, Department of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199, United States
  • i New York University School of Medicine, NYU Langone Medical Center, 215 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10016, United States
  • j Center for Research on U.S. Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA), Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, AHC5-421, Miami, FL 33199, United States

Abstract

Latinos are disproportionately impacted by drinking and driving arrests and alcohol-related fatal crashes. Why, and how, these disparities occur remains unclear. The neighborhood environments that recent Latino immigrants encounter in their host communities can potentially influence health behaviors over time, including the propensity to engage in drinking and driving. This cross-sectional study utilizes a sample of 467 documented and undocumented adult recent Latino immigrants in the United States to answer the following research questions: (a) How do neighborhood-level factors, combined with social support, impact drinking and driving risk behaviors?; and (b) Does acculturative stress moderate the effects of those associations? Results indicate neighborhood-level factors (informal social control and social capital) have protective effects against drinking and driving risk behaviors via the mediating mechanism of social support. Acculturative stress moderated associations between neighborhood informal social control and social support, whereby the protective effects of informal social control on social support were not present for those immigrants with higher levels of acculturative stress. Our findings contribute to the limited knowledge of drinking and driving among Latino immigrants early in the immigration process and suggest that, in the process of developing prevention programs tailored to Latino immigrants, greater attention must be paid to neighborhood-level factors. © 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Author Keywords

Acculturation stress Latino/a immigrants Alcohol Drinking and driving Neighbourhoods

Index Keywords

immigrant social capital Alcohol Drinking drinking behavior alcohol consumption demography health risk health disparity Health Status Disparities alcoholic beverage human Health Behavior epidemiology drunken driving statistics and numerical data Stress, Psychological mental stress drinking social support ethnology Hispanic Americans neighborhood Residence Characteristics Cross-Sectional Studies United States Young Adult cross-sectional study migrant psychology Hispanic Humans social stress male Emigrants and Immigrants social control Acculturation female Driving Under the Influence self concept cultural factor prevention and control Latino people Article high risk behavior disease control Risk-Taking adult immigrant population
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84994518976&doi=10.3390%2fijerph13111055&partnerID=40&md5=410ed0c1b7599d2e9b3f55151164f82b
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph13111055
ISSN: 16617827
Cited by: 5
Original Language: English