The relationship between aging and drinking among U.S. Hispanics is not well understood. The present study used data from the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to describe life-course patterns of alcohol consumption among Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, and Puerto Ricans residing in the mainland United States. Age differences in patterns of consumption among Mexican American and Puerto Rican males were found to reflect aging effects, as evidenced by increasing percentages of former drinkers coupled with consistently low percentages of abstainers at all ages. Among Cuban males, cohort effects were evidenced for middle-aged and older men by a continuation of low rates from younger years, as well as a sharp difference between the rates of the middle-aged and older cohorts and those of the younger cohort. Age differences among all three groups of females were found to reflect cohort effects, as evidenced by large proportions of life-long abstainers across all age cohorts.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BorgattaE. F.MontgomeryR. J. V., and BorgattaM., Alcohol Use and Abuse, Life Crisis Events, and the Elderly, Research on Aging, 4, pp. 378–408, 1982.
2.
FilmoreK. M., Prevalence, Incidence and Chronicity of Drinking Patterns and Problems among Men as a Function of Age: A Longitudinal and Cohort Analysis, British Journal of Addiction, 82, pp. 77–83, 1987.
3.
HarfordT. C. and MillsG. S., Age-related Trends in Alcohol Consumption, Journal of Studies in Alcohol, 39, pp. 207–210, 1978.
4.
HolzerC. E.RobinsL. N.MyersJ. K.WeissmanM. M.TischlerG. L.LeafP. J.AnthonyJ., and BednarskiP. B., Antecedents and Correlates of Alcohol Abuse and Dependence in the Elderly, in Nature and Extent of Alcohol Problems among the Elderly, MaddoxG.RobbinsL. N., and RosenbergN. (eds.), USDHHS, Rockville, 1983.
5.
StallR., Respondent-identified Reasons for Change and Stability in Alcohol Consumption as a Concomitant of the Aging Process, in Anthropology and Epidemiology: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Health and Disease, JanesC. R.StallR., and GiffordS. M. (eds.), Reidel, Boston, 1986.
6.
MarkidesK. S.RayL. A.Stroup-BenhamC. A., and TrevinoF. M., Acculturation and Alcohol Consumption in the Mexican American Population of the Southwestern United States: Findings from HHANES 1982–84, American Journal of Public Health, 80(Suppl), pp. 42–46, 1990.
7.
CaetanoR. and Medina-MoraM. E., Immigration, Acculturation and Alcohol Use: A Comparison between People of Mexican Descent in Mexico and the U.S., report prepared under contract for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Alcohol Research Group, Medical Research Institute of San Francisco, 1986.
8.
AdamsW. L.GarryP. J.RhymeR.HuntW. C., and GoodwinJ. S., Alcohol Intake in the Healthy Elderly: Changes with Age in a Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Study, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 38, pp. 211–216, 1990.
9.
MeyersA. R.GoldmanE.HingsonR., and ScotchN., Evidence for Cohort or Generational Differences in the Drinking Behavior of Older Adults, International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 14, pp. 31–44, 1981–82.
10.
GordonT. and KannelW. B., Drinking and its Relations to Smoking, BP, Blood Lipids, and Uric Acid, Archives of Internal Medicine, 143, pp. 1366–1374, 1983.
11.
GlynnR. J.BouchardG. R.LoCastroJ. S., and LairdN. M., Aging and Generational Effects on Drinking Behaviors in Men: Results From the Normative Aging Study, American Journal of Public Health, 75, pp. 1413–1419, 1985.
12.
CaetanoR., Acculturation, Drinking and Social Settings among U.S. Hispanics, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 19, pp. 215–226, 1987.
13.
NeffJ. A.HoppeS. K., and PereaP., Acculturation and Alcohol Use: Drinking Patterns and Problems among Anglo and Mexican American Male Drinkers, Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 9, pp. 151–181, 1987.
14.
CaetanoR., Ethnicity and Drinking in Northern California: A Comparison among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics, Alcohol and Alcoholism, 19, pp. 31–44, 1984.
15.
RogersR. G., Health-related Lifestyles among Cubans, Mexican-Americans, and Puerto Ricans in the United States, in Mortality of Hispanic Populations, RosenwaikeI. (ed.), Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1991.
16.
RosenwaikeI., Mortality Differences among Persons Born in Cuba, Mexico, and Puerto Rico Residing in the United States, 1979–81, American Journal of Public Health, 77, pp. 603–606, 1987.
17.
PageJ. B.RioL.SweeneyJ., and McKayC., Alcohol and Adaptation to Exile in Miami's Cuban Population, in The American Experience with Alcohol: Contrasting Cultural Perspectives, BennettL. A. and AmesG. M. (eds.), Plenum Press, New York, 1985.
18.
DelgadoJ. L.JohnsonC. L.RoyI., and TrevinoF. M., Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey: Methodological Considerations, American Journal of Public Health, 80(Suppl), pp. 6–10, 1990.
19.
National Center for Health Statistics, Plan and Operation of the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1982–1984. Vital and Health Statistics, Series 1, No. 19. DHHS Pub. No. (PHS) 85-1321, Public Health Service, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1985.
20.
MarksG.GarciaM., and SolisJ. M., Health Risk Behaviors of Hispanics in the United States: Findings from HHANES, 1982–84, American Journal of Public Health, 50(Suppl) pp. 20–26, 1990.
21.
GilbertM. J. and CervantesR. C., Mexican Americans and Alcohol, Monograph 11, Spanish Speaking Mental Health Research Center, Los Angeles, 1987.
22.
MarkidesK. S.KrauseN., and de LeonMendes C. F., Acculturation and Alcohol Consumption among Mexican Americans: A Three-Generation Study, American Journal of Public Health, 78, pp. 1178–1181, 1988.
23.
GordonA. J., Alcohol and Hispanics in the Northeast: A Study of Cultural Variability and Adaptation, in The American Experience with Alcohol: Contrasting Cultural Perspectives, BennettL. A. and AmesG. M. (eds.), Plenum Press, New York, 1985.
