Hispanic drinking in the US: thinking in new directions

Abstract

Until recently, alcohol research with US Hispanics had focused on deviant drinking and alcoholism, suggesting that these phenomena resulted from stress due to socioeconomic disadvantage or acculturation, or ‘machismo”. These explanations, however, are too simple to account for the complexity of drinking behavior and alcohol problems among this ethnic group. Recent research suggests that a full understanding of these problems will only be achieved by taking into account the sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics of US Hispanics as well as the culture and history that characterizes their life in the US. Copyright © 1990, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved