Substance Use & Misuse, Early Online:1–9, 2011 Copyright C  2011 Informa Healthcare USA, Inc. ISSN: 1082-6084 print / 1532-2491 online DOI: 10.3109/10826084.2011.570844 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Heavy Drinking, Perceived Discrimination, and Immigration Status Among Filipino Americans Isok Kim and Michael S. Spencer University of Michigan, School of Social Work, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA Filipino American drinkers (N = 1,443) in Honolulu and San Francisco were selected from the 1998–1999 Filipino American Community Epidemiological Survey to examine the association between perceived discrimination and heavy drinking behavior by immigration status. Results indicate that living in San Francisco, lower religious participation, and higher perceived discrimination were associated with increased odds for heavy drinking among US-born in- dividuals, whereas being male was a risk factor among foreign-born individuals. Thus, perceived discrimi- nation and immigration status should be considered when designing prevention and intervention strategies to address heavy drinking behavior in this population. Keywords at-risk drinking, heavy drinking, Asian Americans, Filipino Americans, immigration status, perceived discrimination INTRODUCTION At-risk drinking behaviors, i.e., heavy or binge drinking, may pose imminent negative health and societal con- sequences, such as unintentional injuries (e.g., alcohol poisoning, car crash, falls, burns, and drowning), inten- tional injuries (e.g., sexual assaults and intimate partner violence), and poor health and mental health outcomes, such as worsening of diabetic conditions and developing alcohol use disorders (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008; Okoro et al., 2004). Deined as con- suming more than four alcoholic drinks on any day or 14 per week for men, or more than three drinks on any day or seven per week for women (National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2009), heavy drinking 1 The reader is reminded that this nosology, which is bounded (culture, time, place, etc.), represents a heterogeneous group of people and not a homogeneous one. Editor’s note. The authors wish to thank David T. Takeuchi for generously allowing the use of his FACES data set. The authors also want to thank Wooksoo Kim for providing helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. This study was partly supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) Minority Fellowship Program (T06 SM058565-01), awarded to the irst author through the Council on Social Work Education. Address correspondence to Isok Kim, University of Michigan, School of Social Work, 1080 S. University Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106; E-mail: kimisok@umich.edu. per se is not a criterion for alcohol use disorder. However, research indicates that “heavy drinking” is associated with subsequent alcohol consumption-related problems, such as driving under its inluence (Zhao, Wu, Houston, & Creager, 2009), intimate partner violence (Leonard, 2005), and alcohol abuse and dependence (Dawson, Li, & Grant, 2008; World Health Organization, 2007). Further- more, evidence suggests that at-risk drinking behaviors are directly associated with alcohol use disorders among US adults aged between 18 and 29 years (Dawson, Grant, Stinson, & Chou, 2004) and among American Indians (Robin, Long, Rasmussen, Albaugh, & Goldman, 1998). Thus, understanding the correlates of “heavy drinking” behavior can help to develop intervention programs to deter the occurrence of future alcohol-related problems. Despite fast growing demographics, few studies have examined “heavy drinking” among Asian Americans (Caetano, Clark, & Tam, 1998; Franklin & Markarian, 2005). There are a few studies that have examined the prevalence and trends of “heavy drinking” among Asian Americans (Caetano et al., 1998; Huang et al., 2006; Ja & Aoki, 1993). For example, Chi, Lubben, and Kitano (1988) compared “heavy drinking” patterns among young males in four Asian ethnic groups (Chinese, Filipino, Ko- rean, and Japanese) and found that the highest proportion of “heavy drinkers” 1 were Japanese, followed by Filipino and Korean. The Chinese group had the lowest proportion of “heavy drinkers.” Using a convenient sample of 298 Filipino Americans, Lubben, Chi, and Kitano (1988) found that about one-third abstained from alcohol, while about one-ifth were categorized as heavy drinkers. A more recent study examined differences in drinking behaviors among four Asian ethnic groups (Chinese, Fil- ipino, Korean, and Vietnamese) in a college setting, and 1 Subst Use Misuse Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by 72.65.20.165 on 05/27/11 For personal use only.