The Immigrant Experience and Alcohol Use: Heart Rate as a Source of Risk and Resilience

The immigration experience in the USA has been linked to a wide range of behavioral and physical outcomes. Studies report that immigrants, relative to native-born citizens, are less likely to develop alcohol use habits despite facing hardship during the acculturation process. Limited research, however, has examined whether and to what extent resting heart rate (RHR) plays a role in accounting for individual differences in the acculturation process in the USA. To begin to address this gap in research, cross-sectional self-report data (N = 4775) from a nationally representative sample of US adults are analyzed to examine the association between the immigrant experience, alcohol use, and drunkenness. The role of low, mean, and high RHR on this association is investigated. The results reveal that respondents with higher levels of the immigrant experience report lower levels of alcohol use and drunkenness. RHR partially conditions the relationship between the immigrant experience and alcohol use, whereby respondents with higher levels of the immigrant experience and high RHR report less alcohol use and drunkenness, compared to more native respondents with low RHR. Immigrant experience and alcohol use were associated, but not with drunkenness among respondents with average RHR levels, relative to those with low RHR levels. The results suggest that RHR may be a potential source of both risk for and resilience to the development of alcohol use behaviors among immigrants going through the acculturation process in the USA.