LAW

DUI and Acculturation

Abstract

The term acculturation refers to the process by continuous or intermittent which the contact between two or more groups of different cultures mutually affect each culture responses one of these. Early in the century the term became synonymous with diffusion or cultural borrowing and even with the assimilation of what was needed stricter definition of it. In 1936 the American Anthropological Association appointed a commission to review. Even when later the same authors of this definition is expressed against limiting aspects of it, no doubt provided an operational definition. This definition allowed, among other things, highlight the dynamic nature of cultural transmission. However, by emphasizing cultural contact this definition excluded the use psychologists and educators who gave the concept as synonymous with education, so Hertskovits suggested the use of enculturation (enculturation} to refer to parenting, socialization and schooling, or is cultural transmission from one generation to another within their own culture.

DUI and Acculturation

Introduction

Of particular interest to this study were alcohol consumption and its impact on the Hispanic/Latino population. The main reason is that while rates of alcohol problems and dependence have stabilized or declined among Whites, there has been an increase among Hispanics and Blacks as found in the National Alcohol Surveys (Schmidt, Ye, Greenfield, & Bond, 2007). Therefore, Caetano, Clark, and Tam (1998) emphasized the importance of conducting alcohol research among minority groups in the United States. This paper discussed the topic of acculturation among Hispanics/Latinos and how it might predict the alcohol consumption rate in this ethnic group.

The largest ethnic minority group, Hispanics are estimated to be 39-42.7 millions of the total U.S. population (Field & Caetano, 2010; Pearson, Dube, Nelson, & Caetano 2009). It is also expected that Hispanics will represent an estimated 24% of the population by the year 2050 (Amaro, Arvalo, Gonzalez, Szapocznik, & Iguchi, 2006). This group of Hispanics/Latinos is not a homogeneous group but rather a culturally and racially diverse group originating from different countries in Latin America (Caetano, Ramisetty-Mikler, & Rodriguez, 2008), including individuals of Mexican ancestry, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central and South America and also Hispanics of other origins (Amaro et al., 2006). It is important to study alcohol use among this population because previous studies have indicated higher general alcohol use, as well as hazardous alcohol use patterns, among this population than other ethnic groups (Pearson et al., 2009). This population has also been identified as suffering from health disparities and having higher risks of alcohol-related problems than Whites (alcohol mortality, liver cirrhosis, driving under the influence, etc; Zemore, Mulia, Ye, Borges, & Greenfield, 2009). Mortality rate for Latinos with alcohol-related liver cirrhosis was 13.3 deaths per 100,000, compared with 8.3 for African American males and 5.2 for White males (Vega, Sribney, AcharaAbrahams,2003). Additionally, the treatment or intervention received for these health problems is less likely to be adequate as Field and Caetano (2010) found when studying 537 randomly selected Hispanics.

Acculturation

Definition

The term acculturation refers to the process by continuous or intermittent which the contact between two ...