THE DIFFERENT ALCOHOL USE AMONG ASIAN POPULATION IN U.S.: THE ROLE OF RACE IN THE RELATINOSHIP BETWEEN PERSONALITY/SOCIAL LEARNING AND ALCOHOL USE

Abstract

Although extensive research on alcohol use among Caucasian population has been conducted, there are only a few studies to explore an underlying mechanism of alcohol use on Asian population in U.S. Because of the risks associated with alcohol, it is important to understand the different alcohol use behaviors among Asian group in terms of personality and social learning. Extensive studies have suggested that drinking motives and alcohol expec-tancy are good proxy predictors of social and cultural learning, and impul-sivity is related to personality traits. However, there is only a few data that examine impulsivity, drinking motives, and alcohol expectancy difference by race. No studies have ever examined the mediating and moderating role of race in the relationship between impulsivity and drinking motives/alcohol expectancy on alcohol use. The goal of this poster is to review the different impulsivity, drinking motives, and alcohol expectancy among Asian popula-tion in order to elucidate the unknown mechanism of alcohol use and devel-op a theoretical model of Asian drinking. Our review of the literature indi-cates that Asians particularly endorsed high impulsive coping strategies compared to Caucasians, engaged in problematic drinking due to conformity drinking motives, and alcohol expectancies mediated the relationship be-tween impulsivity and alcohol use only for Asian group. These findings sug-gest that the role of culture and race has crucial influence on Asian drinking pattern in U.S. and needs to be empirically examined in the future studies.