Keywords

substance abuse, treatment, ethnic identity, acculturation, acculturative stress

Abstract

Alcohol and drug use and abuse are significant concerns in the United States, yet few studies have investigated how cultural factors, such as acculturative type and acculturative stress, impact substance abuse treatment outcomes. In this study, African American (n = 171) and Hispanic (n = 101) substance abusers' acculturative type and acculturative stress levels were compared to substance abuse treatment outcome. Although the results indicated that acculturative type did not predict substance abuse treatment outcome, a positive correlation between acculturative stress and alcohol and substance abuse problems emerged among the combined and Hispanic samples. In the combined and Hispanic groups, participants experiencing higher levels of acculturative stress demonstrated higher levels of substance use consequences at baseline. Additionally, Hispanic participants experiencing higher levels of pressure to acculturate related to difficulty in interpersonal interactions due to language or cultural barriers and encountering prejudice had higher levels of substance use consequences at the outcome of treatment. These findings suggest that cultural factors play a role in substance abuse treatment outcome. Recommendations on how substance abuse treatment facilities can respond to the unique needs of African American and Hispanic clients are provided.

Notes

If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at STARS@ucf.edu

Graduation Date

2006

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Negy, Charles

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree Program

Psychology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0001379

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0001379

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Download

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS