Majority Rules? The Effects of School Ethnic Composition on Substance Use by Mexican Heritage Adolescents

This article examines key aspects of the school environment - its composition by ethnicity and acculturation - as important social contexts for understanding Mexican immigrant and Mexican American adolescents' drug use norms and behaviors. Results are presented based on surveys completed by Mexican-background students from 35 Phoenix. Arizona middle schools, whose enrollment ranged from a numerical minority to an overwhelming majority. Multivariate mixed models tested for the influence of school ethnic composition measures on substance use outcomes, while accounting for individual level predictors and for the nesting of data at the school level. The proportional representation of Latinos in the school was not a factor in an individual's drug use norms or drug use for the sample overall. Once students were broken down by acculturation status, however, ethnic composition had an effect. Less acculturated Mexican heritage students in schools with higher proportions of Latino students reported less substance use and less adherence to pro-drug norms. Further investigation using other measures of ethnic composition suggested that these effects were attributable to the larger presence of less acculturated Latinos in the school rather than more acculturated Latino students. These school-level effects support the individual-level results indicating that less acculturated Mexican American students face less daunting substance use risks. The results suggest that ethnic group size, but not necessarily numerical predominance, matters and that within-group differences influence the effect of a particular ethnic group's presence in the school. In other words, the majority does not always rule. These findings are interpreted using the concepts of segmented assimilation and school level social capital.     

Differences by gender, ethnicity, and acculturation in the efficacy of the keepin' it REAL model prevention program

This study examined whether the efficacy of keepin' it REAL, a model program for substance use prevention in schools, was moderated by gender, ethnicity, and acculturation. Gender differences in program efficacy may arise through boys' higher risk of drug use, inadequate attention to girls' developmental issues, or cultural factors like polarized gender expectations. Data came from a randomized trial in 35 Phoenix, Arizona, middle schools involving 4,622 mostly Latino 7th graders. Using multi-level mixed models and multiple imputation missing techniques, results for the total sample showed no gender differences in program effects on recent substance use, but the program was more effective in fostering boys' than girls' anti-drug norms. Subgroup analyses demonstrated several more beneficial program effects for boys than girls (less alcohol and cigarette use and stronger anti-drug norms), but only among less acculturated Latinos. There were no gender differences in program effects among more acculturated Latinos, nor among non-Latino whites.     

Collective Efficacy and Crime in Los Angeles Neighborhoods: Implications for the Latino Paradox*

We use data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Study (LAFANS) to examine the degree to which social ties and collective efficacy influence neighborhood levels of crime, net of neighborhood structural characteristics. Results indicate that residential instability and collective efficacy were each associated with lower log odds of robbery victimization, while social ties had a positive effect on robbery victimization. Further, collective efficacy mediated 77 percent of the association between concentrated disadvantage and robbery victimization, while social ties had no mediating effect. The mediation effect for concentrated disadvantage, however, was substantially weaker in the Latino neighborhoods (where it was 52%) than in the non‐Latino neighborhoods (where it was 82%), suggesting that a “Latino paradox” may be present in which crime rates in Latino neighborhoods appear to have less to do with local levels of collective efficacy than in non‐Latino neighborhoods. Implications for future research bearing on both the Latino paradox and the systemic model of social control are discussed.     

Mexican/Mexican American Adolescents and keepin' it REAL: An Evidence-Based Substance Use Prevention Program

A randomized trial tested the efficacy of three curriculum versions teaching drug resistance strategies, one modeled on Mexican American culture; another modeled on European American and African American culture; and a multicultural version. Self-report data at baseline and 14 months post-intervention were obtained from 3, 402 Mexican heritage students in 35 Arizona middle schools, including 11 control sites. Tests for intervention effects used simultaneous regression models, multiple imputation of missing data, and adjustments for random effects. Compared with controls, students in the Latino version reported less overall substance use and marijuana use, stronger intentions to refuse substances, greater confidence they could do so, and lower estimates of substance-using peers. Students in the multicultural version reported less alcohol, marijuana, and overall substance use. Although program effects were confined to the Latino and multicultural versions, tests of their relative efficacy compared with the non-Latino version found no significant differences. Implications for evidence-based practice and prevention program designs are discussed, including the role of school social workers in culturally grounded prevention.     

Parental Influence on Adolescent Cigarette,Alcohol and Marijuana Use: A Focus on Race/Ethnicity and Age

This study examined the racial/ethnic differences in the influence of perceived parental attitudes on adolescent cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use. The 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) was used and included African American, Hispanic, non-Hispanic White, and other race youth (N?=?13,600), aged 12–17. We tested the direct and moderating effects of perceived parental attitudes by race/ethnicity and age on adolescent substance use. Results show that perceived parental disapproval decreased cigarette and alcohol use among older adolescents. Perceived parental disapproval also varied by race/ethnicity and the type of substance used in that non-Hispanic White adolescents were more influenced by perceived parental disapproval for cigarette use, and perceived parental disapproval influenced Hispanic adolescents’ use for all three substances. African American adolescents were less influenced by perceived parental disapproval for all three substances. We also examined perceived harm in substance use and found that only 22.5% of the sample perceived the use of marijuana as harmful compared to cigarette and alcohol use (66 and 62.1%, respectively). Implications for preventive and intervention measures are discussed.     

The effects of racial/ethnic segregation on Latino and Black homicide

Racial/ethnic residential segregation has been shown to contribute to violence and have harmful consequences for minority groups. However, research examining the segregation–crime relationship has focused almost exclusively on blacks and whites while largely ignoring Latinos and other race/ethnic groups and has rarely considered potential mediators (e.g., concentrated disadvantage) in segregation–violence relationships. This study uses year 2000 arrest data for California and New York census places to extend segregation–crime research by comparing the effects of racial/ethnic residential segregation from whites on black and Latino homicide. Results indicate that (1) racial/ethnic segregation contributes to both Latino and black homicide, and (2) the effects for both groups are mediated by concentrated disadvantage. Implications for segregation–violence relationships, the racial-invariance position, and the Latino paradox are discussed.     

Longitudinal Effects of Best‐Friend Communication Against Substance Use for Latino and Non‐Latino White Early Adolescents

Prior research examining peer influences on adolescent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use has primarily focused on the positive associations that peer substance use and offers have with adolescent use. Consequently, such research has often emphasized the negative influences of peers. This study, however, operationalizes peer influence through best‐friend communication against substance use and examines whether it indirectly protects against substance use by promoting anti–substance use norms. Structural equation modeling was utilized with longitudinal survey data from 277 Latino and 350 non‐Latino white 6th–8th‐grade‐students. For Latino and non‐Latino white students, best‐friend communication was indirectly related to alcohol and cigarette use through norms. Best‐friend communication also was indirectly related to marijuana use, but only for non‐Latino white students and for male students.     

School Context and Individual Acculturation: How School Composition Affects Latino Students’ Acculturation*

Understanding how schools—a key context for children—shape students' cultural trajectories is important since these trajectories are tied to youth development and achievement. This study assessed how the size of the school's group of acculturated Latino and non‐Latino students influenced the acculturation of 1,720 Latino 5th‐grade students from urban public schools in the Southwest United States. A longitudinal secondary data analysis revealed that controlling for wave 1 acculturation, youths in schools with larger proportions of linguistically acculturated students were more acculturated at wave 2 than youths in schools with smaller proportions of such students. This effect was independent of Latino students' baseline acculturation level and was found even in schools with minority proportions of more acculturated students.     

Resurgent Ethnicity among Asian Americans: Ethnic Neighborhood Context and Health

In this study I investigate the associations of neighborhood socioeconomic and social environments with the health of Asian Americans living in both Asian ethnic neighborhoods and non-Asian neighborhoods. I use a sample of 1962 Asian Americans from the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS, 2003-04). Three key findings emerge. First, absolute levels of socioeconomic and social resources do not differ greatly between the Asian ethnic neighborhoods and non-Asian neighborhoods in which Asian Americans live. Second, the ethnic neighborhood context conditions the effects of neighborhood education on health so that higher neighborhood education is related to better self-rated health among Asian Americans only when they live in Asian ethnic neighborhoods. Finally, the social environment, measured by everyday discrimination and social cohesion, does not differ in its health effects for individuals living in Asian ethnic and non-Asian neighborhoods. Together, these findings illuminate the complex ways that racial and ethnic neighborhood concentration impacts health.     

Acculturation and Risk Behavior among Pregnant Mexican American Females: A Structural Equation Model

The purpose of this study was to test a theoretical model designed to predict risk behavior (i.e., cigarette and/or alcohol use) in a sample of Mexican American females who were pregnant and ranged in age from adolescence to early adulthood. The model consisted of six hypothesized predictors–acculturation status, intergenerational family conflict, acculturative stress, educational attainment, household income, and age of respondent, which were proposed as antecedents of risk behavior. Structural equation modeling was used to test both the direct and indirect effects for a set of proposed antecedents to the tendency for Mexican American females to engage in risk behaviors. Several of the hypothesized relationships were supported, with the strongest predictors of risk behavior being acculturation status, intergenerational family conflict, and acculturative stress. An important conclusion was that risk behavior by Mexican American females increased as they became more acculturated to the social circumstances of the U.S. Another notable result was that risk behavior increased among Mexican American females as they experienced higher levels of intergenerational conflict within their families.     

Neighborhood influences on adolescent cigarette and alcohol use: mediating effects through parent and peer behaviors

The influence of neighborhoods on adolescent behaviors has received increasing research attention. In the present study, we use structural equation models to specify pathways from neighborhoods to adolescent cigarette and alcohol use through parental closeness, parental monitoring, parent substance use, and peer substance use. We use a national sample with 959 adolescents 12 to 14 years of age whose residential addresses were matched with 1990 Census tracts to provide neighborhood characteristics. We found that for adolescent cigarette use low socioeconomic status (SES) neighborhoods were associated with increased parental monitoring, which was further associated with decreased adolescent cigarette use. For adolescent alcohol use, high SES neighborhoods were associated with increased parent drinking, which was further associated with increased adolescent alcohol use. Low SES neighborhoods were associated with increased parental monitoring and increased peer drinking, which were in turn associated with decreased and increased adolescent alcohol use, respectively.     

Does identity matter for adaptation? The influence of acculturation identity on the well-being and delinquency of adolescent students in Europe

ABSTRACT

This study examines the implications of identity for the adaptation of immigrant children in the European context. Using the migrant sample from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU), this study examines how identity is related to the outcomes of well-being and delinquency of high school students. Results from multilevel models lend partial support to the theorized role of acculturation identity. Integrated students had higher well-being compared with assimilated students, challenging the notion that sole national affiliation is the most advantageous strategy for adaptation and thereby supporting a selective acculturation perspective. In addition, separate analyses of European and non-European immigrant students produced divergent results. While the ethnic identity of students with non-European backgrounds was negatively associated with delinquent behavior, separated students of European background reported higher delinquency compared with their assimilated counterparts, suggesting that acculturated identity works in different ways between immigrant groups and that the protective effect of ethnic identity against delinquency is only present for migrants students of non-European backgrounds.     

Immigrant and native ethnic enterprises in Mexican American neighborhoods: differing perceptions of Mexican immigrant workers

This study uses original data from a large sample of businesses located in Mexican ethnic neighborhoods (barrios) in Texas and California to analyze how perceptions of the economic roles of Mexican immigrant workers differ among 3 employer groups: native ethnic, immigrant ethnic, and non-ethnic. It was found that the immigrant ethnic employer group depends more on Mexican immigrants as workers and as consumers than does the native ethnic group, which tends in many ways to be more like the non-ethnic group. Differences between results for localities on the border with Mexico and those for non-border localities are also discussed.     

Residential Instability,Family Support,and Parent–Child Relationships Among Ethnically Diverse Urban Families

From a social disorganization standpoint, neighborhood residential instability potentially brings negative consequences to parent–child relationship qualities, but family social support and racial/ethnic identity may modify this association. Using data (n = 3,116) from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, this study examines associations between neighborhood residential instability and parent–child warmth and conflict, whether family social support moderates associations between residential instability and parent–child relationships, and variation by race/ethnicity. Multilevel models reveal that residential instability undermines parent–child relationship qualities, particularly for non‐White individuals. Family support is a protective factor for families in less stable neighborhoods and specifically buffers the association between neighborhood residential instability and reduced parent–child warmth. Among Hispanics, family support mitigates the association between residential instability and heightened parent–child conflict. Findings highlight residential instability as a detriment to parent–child relationships; families in unstable neighborhoods may benefit from family social support.     

Neighborhood structural disadvantage,collective efficacy,and self-rated physical health in an urban setting

Our analyses examine the role neighborhood structural characteristics--including concentrated disadvantage, residential instability, and immigrant concentration--as well as collective efficacy in promoting physical health among neighborhood residents. Using data from the 1990 census, the 1994 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods Community Survey, and the 1991-2000 Metropolitan Chicago Information Center-Metro Survey, we model the effects of individual and neighborhood level factors on self-rated physical health employing hierarchical ordered logit models. First, we find that neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is not significantly related to self-rated physical health when individual level demographic and health background are controlled. Second, individuals residing in neighborhoods with higher levels of collective efficacy report better overall health. Finally, socioeconomic disadvantage and collective efficacy condition the positive effects of individual level education on physical health.     

Between Spatial and Social Segregation among Immigrants: The Case of Immigrants from the FSU in Israel

Studies on immigrants' residential concentration have reported mixed findings. Some have argued that immigrants' residential concentration is a necessary step in the process of their social integration because there the newcomers find housing and employment opportunities as well as social support. As they learn the language and improve their socioeconomic status, they move to neighborhoods where they share space with the native population. Others have argued that the ethnic neighborhood delays the process of social integration in the new society because it nurtures informal ethnic social networks that provide incomplete information and retard the process of language acquisition. The study reported here investigated the effect of motivations, perceptions of attitudes of the host society, acculturation and socioeconomic factors on immigrants' residential concentration. It also sought to expand previous research by examining the relationship between immigrants'residential concentration and social relationships with nonimmigrants. Data for the study were collected in 1999 through a survey of immigrants from the FSU who had settled in one northern city in Israel after 1989. The results show a negative relationship of socioeconomic status and fluency in Hebrew with the percentage of immigrants residing in a given neighborhood. The higher the socioeconomic status and the more fluent the immigrant in Hebrew, the lower the percentage of immigrants in his or her neighborhood. Immigrants who expressed a proactive motivation for migration resided in neighborhoods with a low percentage of immigrants. Immigrants' residential concentration was not found to be related to the development of social relationships with the local population. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Sociocultural Contexts of Time to First Sex Among Hispanic Adolescents

This investigation examines the sociocultural influences on risk of first sex among a representative sample of Hispanic (primarily of Mexican origin) teens living in Los Angeles County. Teen acculturation (measured as language of interview) moderates the effects of gender on risk of sex, with less acculturated teens exhibiting the greatest gender difference. Teens living with both biological parents have significantly lower risk of sex and the effect of family acculturation (measured as generational status) operates through teens' language of interview. Neither measure of parent‐youth relationship (socioemotional support, parental control) is significant. Hispanic teens living in low‐density Hispanic neighborhoods have significantly higher risk of sex than do teens living in neighborhoods with higher levels of ambient hazards. The results highlight the importance of characterizing sociocultural influences at multiple levels of aggregation.     

Church, place, and crime: Latinos and homicide in new destinations

Latinos are moving beyond traditional areas and settling in new, potentially disorganized destinations. Without an established immigrant community, new destinations appear to rely more on the local religious ecology to regulate community life and to keep crime low. We examine the link between religious ecology and Latino homicide victimization for traditional and new destination counties. We observe four findings. (1) A Catholic presence has no effect on Latino violence in the old and well-organized traditional settlement areas. But in new Latino settlement areas, a Catholic presence substantially lowers violence against Latinos. In contrast, mainline Protestantism is linked to high levels of violence against Latinos in new destinations. (2) Previous claims that Latino communities are safe do not apply to new destinations, where Latinos are murdered at a high rate. (3) Previous claims that areas with high Latino immigration are safe for Latinos are not true for new destinations. (4) New Latino destinations offer little insulation from the effects of economic deprivation on violence. We discuss the implications of the findings.     

Geographic Mobility and Spatial Assimilation among U. S. Latino Immigrants1

Although the spatial assimilation of immigrants to the United States has important implications for social theory and social policy, few studies have explored the atterns and determinants of interneighborhood geographic mobility that lead to immigrants’residential proximity to the white, non‐Hispanic majority. We explore this issue by merging data from three different sources ‐ the Latino National Political Survey, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and tract‐level census data ‐ to begin unraveling causal relationships among indicators of socioeconomic, social, cultural, segmented, and spatial assimilation. Our longitudinal analysis of 700 Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban immigrants followed from 1990 to 1995 finds broad support for hypotheses derived from the classical account of minority assimilation. High income, English language use, and embeddedness in Anglo social contexts increase Latino immigrants’geographic mobility into Anglo neighborhoods. U. S. citizenship and years spent in the United Stares are ppsidvely associated with geographic mobility into more Anglo neighbor oods, and coethnic contact is inversely associated with this form of mobility, but these associations operate largely through other redictors. Prior experiences of ethnic discrimination increase and residence in public housing decreases the likelihood that Latino immigrants will move from their origin neighborhoods, while residing in metropolitan areas with large Latino populations leads to geographic moves into “less Anglo” census tracts.     

Neighborhood racial & ethnic diversity as a predictor of child welfare system involvement

Using U.S. Census and child maltreatment report data for 2052 Census tracts in Los Angeles County, California, this study uses spatial regression techniques to explore the relationship between neighborhood social disorganization and maltreatment referral rates for Black, Hispanic and White children. Particular attention is paid to the racial–ethnic diversity (or ‘heterogeneity’) of neighborhood residents as a risk factor for child welfare system involvement, as social disorganization theory suggests that cultural differences and racism may decrease neighbors' social cohesion and capacity to enforce norms regarding acceptable parenting and this may, in turn, increase neighborhood rates of child maltreatment. Results from this study indicate that racial–ethnic diversity is a risk factor for child welfare involvement for all three groups of children studied, even after controlling for other indicators of social disorganization. Black, Hispanic and White children living in diverse neighborhoods are significantly more likely to be reported to Child Protective Services than children of the same race/ethnicity living in more homogeneous neighborhoods. However, the relationships between child welfare system involvement and the other indicators of social disorganization measured, specifically impoverishment, immigrant concentration child care burden, residential instability, and housing stress, varied considerably between Black, Hispanic and White children. For Black children, only housing stress predicted child maltreatment referral rates; whereas, neighborhood impoverishment, residential instability, and child care burden also predicted higher child maltreatment referral rates for Hispanic and White children. Immigrant concentration was unrelated to maltreatment referral rates for Black and Hispanic children, and predicted lower maltreatment referral rates for White children. Taken together, these findings suggest that racial–ethnic diversity may be one of the more reliable neighborhood-level demographic indicators of child welfare risk across different racial/ethnic groups of children. However, many of the other neighborhood characteristics that influence child maltreatment referrals differ for Black, Hispanic and White children. Consequently, neighborhood-based family support initiatives should avoid a one-size-fits-all approach to child abuse prevention and strategically consider the racial/ethnic make-up of targeted communities.