TY - JOUR
T1 - The Study and Prevention of Alcohol and Other Drug Misuse Among Migrants
T2 - Toward a Transnational Theory of Cultural Stress
AU - Salas-Wright, Christopher P.
AU - Schwartz, Seth J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported in part by grant number R25 DA030310 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health and by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through BU-CTSI Grant Number 1KL2TR001411. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH. The authors are grateful to Maryann Amodeo, Professor Emerita at Boston University, for her thoughtful feedback.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2019/4/15
Y1 - 2019/4/15
N2 - Prior research suggests that international migrants, taken together, experience alcohol and other drug (AOD)-related problems at lower rates than do non-migrants. However, many migrants do, in fact, misuse AOD, with elevated levels of risk observed among those who migrate during childhood and those who experience adverse/stressful events. In our prior work, we have advanced cultural stress theory, which is concerned with the ways in which adverse migration-related experiences can create disruptions in family functioning and, in turn, increase risk for adverse behavioral and mental health outcomes, including AOD misuse. In this article, we provide an overview of prior research on AOD misuse among immigrants and highlight critical gaps in research and theory. In turn, we present a framework for AOD misuse research and prevention that (1) considers the importance of pre-migration, transit-related, and post-migration stressors; (2) prioritizes cross-national and multisite comparative designs; and (3) highlights transnational dynamics in migration.
AB - Prior research suggests that international migrants, taken together, experience alcohol and other drug (AOD)-related problems at lower rates than do non-migrants. However, many migrants do, in fact, misuse AOD, with elevated levels of risk observed among those who migrate during childhood and those who experience adverse/stressful events. In our prior work, we have advanced cultural stress theory, which is concerned with the ways in which adverse migration-related experiences can create disruptions in family functioning and, in turn, increase risk for adverse behavioral and mental health outcomes, including AOD misuse. In this article, we provide an overview of prior research on AOD misuse among immigrants and highlight critical gaps in research and theory. In turn, we present a framework for AOD misuse research and prevention that (1) considers the importance of pre-migration, transit-related, and post-migration stressors; (2) prioritizes cross-national and multisite comparative designs; and (3) highlights transnational dynamics in migration.
KW - Alcohol and drugs
KW - Cultural stress
KW - Immigrants
KW - Migration
KW - Transnationalism
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U2 - 10.1007/s11469-018-0023-5
DO - 10.1007/s11469-018-0023-5
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85056321440
VL - 17
SP - 346
EP - 369
JO - International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
JF - International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
SN - 1557-1874
IS - 2
ER -
