Alcohol Use Severity Among Adult Hispanic Immigrants: Examining the Roles of Family Cohesion, Social Support, and Gender

ABSTRACT

Background: This study examined (a) the direct association of family cohesion on alcohol use severity among adult Hispanic immigrants; (b) the indirect association of family cohesion on alcohol use severity via social support; and (c) if gender moderates the direct and indirect associations between family cohesion and alcohol use severity. Method: Mediation and moderation analyses were conducted on a cross-sectional sample of 411 (men = 222, women = 189) participants from Miami-Dade, Florida. Results: Findings indicate that higher family cohesion was directly associated with higher social support and lower alcohol use severity. Higher social support was also directly associated with lower alcohol use severity. Additionally, family cohesion had an indirect association with alcohol use severity via social support. Moderation analyses indicated that gender moderated the direct association between family cohesion and alcohol use severity, but did not moderate the indirect association. Conclusions: Some potential clinical implications may be that strengthening family cohesion may enhance levels of social support, and in turn, lower alcohol use severity among adult Hispanic immigrants. Furthermore, strengthening family cohesion may be especially beneficial to men in efforts to lower levels of alcohol use severity.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol
• family cohesion
• social support
• Hispanic
• immigrants
• gender differences

Acknowledgments

Preparation of this article was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [R21 AA022202] and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities [P20 MD002288].

Author disclosures

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest and do not have any financial disclosures to report.

Additional information

Funding

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism(10.13039/100000027, R21 AA022202), National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities(10.13039/100006545, P20 MD002288)