Drinking among US Hispanics: A multivariate analysis of alcohol consumption patterns

This article explores the relationship between various demographic measures and alcohol consumption patterns among U.S. Hispanics, using data collecte d as part of the 5-year project, Preventing Alcohol Trauma: A Community Tri al, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. In pa rticular; it addresses the impact of gender age, and other exogenous measur es on four drinking pattern measures: drinker status (current drinker versu s abstainer), drinking frequency, average drinks per occasion, and variance in drinking patterns. The article applies a series of models originally de veloped by Gruenewald and colleagues concerning a subsample of the project' s phone-survey Hispanic subsample. Results indicate that although consumpti on patterns for U.S. Hispanics are similar to those in the general populati on, they differ in a number of important respects. Specifically, being divo rced or separated as opposed to single, appeared to elevate drinking levels . Additionally, males in their 30s, ar opposed to in their 20s, appeared at greatest risk for problematic consumption patterns. The implications of th ese differences for the health of U.S. Hispanics are noted.