For instance, James Bray, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Baylor College
of Medicine found that Mexican-American high schoolers who predominantly
speak English are more likely to feel distant from their parents. The emotional
separation, in turn, seems to be related to alcohol use, tobacco use and
deviant behaviors like stealing and fighting.
“These findings suggest that the previously reported negative impact
of acculturation on problem behaviors can be better explained by developmental
processes such as increased emotional separation from parents and greater
family conflict,” Bray and colleagues say in the November issue
of Child Development.
The instances of family conflict created by acculturation were related
to marijuana use and deviant behavior among the teens, the researchers
found.
Bray and colleagues examined the relationship between acculturation, family
dynamics and substance use among Mexican-American students from five suburban
school districts around Houston. Most of the students were born in the
United States, but almost 14 percent were first-generation Americans.
To determine the students’ level of acculturation,
the researchers asked them how regularly they spoke English with family
and friends and
whether they and their parents had been born in the United States.
Bray and colleagues found that these measures of acculturation
were significantly related to levels of emotional separation and conflict
within the teens’ families.
“Rather than examining the level of acculturation as the direct
cause of risky behavior, future studies should continue to investigate … how
the acculturative process influences attitude, behavior changes and development,” Bray
says.
The study was supported by the National Institute on Alcoholism
and Alcohol Abuse.
