Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Psychology
Advisor's Name
Jonathan G. Tubman
Advisor's Title
Committee Chair
Advisor's Name
Marilyn J. Montgomery
Advisor's Name
Wendy K. Silverman
Advisor's Name
Mark Macgowan
Advisor's Name
William Kurtines
Keywords
ACCULTURATION, ALCOHOL USE, INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS, SOCIAL SUPPORT
Date of Defense
10-26-2009
Abstract
In the current study, 226 international students attending Florida International University responded to an Web-based questionnaire that assessed self-reported scores for: acculturation, acculturative stress, alcohol use patterns, perceived peer alcohol use, and perceived injunctive social norms for alcohol use. The purpose of the study was to evaluate structural relations among this set of variables using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) via AMOS 17.0. The results of SEM analyses documented acceptable fit of a model which hypothesized that relations between acculturation and alcohol use variables are mediated partially by acculturative stress, perceived peer alcohol use, and perceived injunctive social norms. While significant path coefficients were documented for paths between (a) acculturation and acculturative stress and (b) acculturative stress and alcohol use, the coefficients had negative signs, contrary to existing studies investigating these relations among immigrant youth. While paths between (a) perceived peer alcohol use or (b) perceived injunctive social norms and participants’ alcohol use were significant, path coefficients between acculturation and either (a) perceived peer alcohol use or (b) perceived injunctive social norms were not statistically significant. In addition, multiple-group comparisons suggested that social support had a significant moderating influence on several significant paths in the structural model. Specifically, international students reporting higher social support reported lower scores for acculturative stress and alcohol use, in contrast to their counterparts who reported lower scores for social support.
Recommended Citation
Kanaparthi, Ananth, "Relations Between Acculturation And Alcohol Use Among International Students" (2009). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 133.
http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/133