Cultural Influences and Drug Abuse: Psychological Vulnerabilities of Puerto Ricans in the United States

• NCJ Number: 130910
• Author(s): L B Szalay; G Canino
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 219 pages
• Contract Number(s): 5 R01 DA04718-02; 87-JN-CX-0005
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP); National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Corporate Author: Institute of Comparative Social and Cultural Studies, Inc.
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study compares psychological and cultural factors that influence drug abuse among young Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico and New York State compared to nonusers in Puerto Rico and New York.

Abstract

The study tested young Puerto Rican drug users (200) and nonusers (100) in the United States (New York) and drug users (100) and nonusers (100) in Puerto Rico. American drug users (100) and nonusers (100) of comparable sociodemographic backgrounds were also tested in New York. The study used the Associative Group Analysis method which is a tool of indepth analysis of perceptions, motivations, and cognitive organization. Also included were more traditional batteries of questions and scales typically used in acculturation and drug abuse studies. The Puerto Rican and American differences traced by this study provide detailed and internally consistent insights into psychological factors that underlie the low level of drug use in Puerto Rico and the epidemic proportions of drug use among Puerto Rican youth in the United States. The higher level of drug use by Puerto Rican youth in the United States is due to the broad acceptance of drugs in the United States. These influences gradually erode the protective mechanisms in the traditional Puerto Rican cultural views that reject drugs. Puerto Rican adolescents likely to remain drug-free develop a system of protective values characteristic of American nonusers of drugs. Educational and policy applications are drawn. Extensive tables and figures