Journal of Youth and Adolescence
Volume 43, Issue 7, 2014, Pages 1163-1175

Subjective Social Status, Immigrant Generation, and Cannabis and Alcohol Use Among Adolescents (Article)

Hamilton H.A. , van der Maas M. , Boak A. , Mann R.E.
  • a Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Russell St., 5th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
  • b Department of Sociology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
  • c Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Russell St., 5th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada
  • d Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 33 Russell St., 5th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S1, Canada, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Abstract

Research indicates that subjective perceptions of socioeconomic status (SES) affect aspects of health and behavior. There has been little research attention to how objective (e.g., education) and subjective aspects of SES may differ in their influence on the substance use of adolescent immigrants. The present study examined whether the associations between subjective SES and substance use, and between parental education and substance use varied by immigrant generation. Data were derived from the 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, a representative survey of students in the 7th to 12th grade. The sample for this study consisted of 9177 students 12-19 years of age; 48.4 % were female, 66.4 % were White/European, 5.2 % Black/Afro-Caribbean, 16.4 % Asian and 12 % other. Results indicated that subjective SES was more strongly associated with cannabis and alcohol use among first-generation immigrants than among adolescents of other immigrant generations even after adjusting for parental education. First-generation immigrants with low subjective SES had a lower probability of cannabis and regular alcohol use, but there was no difference in use between immigrant generations at high subjective SES. The associations between parental education and cannabis and alcohol use did not significantly vary with immigrant generation. The findings highlight the importance of status beliefs among adolescents, particularly among first-generation immigrants, and suggest that further research attention to such beliefs would enhance our understanding of SES and its links to adolescent health risk behaviors. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Author Keywords

Subjective social status Socioeconomic status immigrants Cannabis use Alcohol use Adolescents

Index Keywords

Alcohol Drinking drinking behavior economics human Self Report Logistic Models Health Surveys ethnology Cross-Sectional Studies cross-sectional study migrant psychology Humans Adolescent male Canada Emigrants and Immigrants female Marijuana Smoking Ontario Adolescent Behavior statistical model cannabis smoking social class Child health survey
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84902485848&doi=10.1007%2fs10964-013-0054-y&partnerID=40&md5=a1be0dacafd60d5bb4bc7e9d37eedb64
DOI: 10.1007/s10964-013-0054-y
ISSN: 00472891
Cited by: 12
Original Language: English