ALCOHOL EXPECTANCIES AMONG HISPANICS AND NON-HISPANIC WHITES - ROLE OF DRINKING STATUS AND ACCULTURATION

A random sample of 1,740 San Francisco residents were interviewed over the telephone. Of these, 1,204 were Hispanics (43.5% were males) and 536 were non-Hispanic Whites (48.6% males). Consumption and expectanci es on the use of alcoholic beverages were measured. In a multivariate analysis of variance, ethnicity of the respondents produced a signific ant main effect for the responses to the Emotional and Behavioral Impa irment and Social Extroversion Scales whereby the Hispanic respondents were more likely to expect those results. Post-hoc comparisons among Hispanic respondents show that abstainers differed from moderate and h eavy drinkers. The more acculturated Hispanics tended to respond simil arly to the non-Hispanic White respondents and to be less likely to ex pect the effects included in the Emotional and Behavioral Impairment a nd Social Extroversion Scales. There were no differences in the expect ations held by Mexican-Americans and Central American respondents.