Assessing the Association Between Discrimination and Alcohol Use by Gender Among Latino/a Immigrant Parents: A...

Latino adults are a large and growing population in the United States (US) and report greater alcohol use compared to non-Hispanic White adults. Perceived discrimination is associated with alcohol consumption among this population, and psychological symptomatology may mediate this association. Alcohol use and mental health often differ between men and women; therefore, gender may function as a moderator in the relationship between mental health and alcohol use among Latino adults. The present study was designed to investigate whether symptoms of poor mental health serve as intervening variables in the association between perceived discrimination and alcohol use, and whether gender moderates both direct and indirect associations between perceived discrimination and alcohol use among Latino immigrant parents living in the US (N = 893). We collected cross-sectional survey data on psychological symptomatology (anxiety, depression, and stress) and alcohol misuse and created a latent psychological symptomatology construct via confirmatory factor analysis. A mediated-moderation model was estimated to explore the association between perceived discrimination and alcohol use, including mediation through the latent psychological symptomatology construct, for both men and women. Findings indicate that psychological symptoms explained the link between discrimination and alcohol use for men (β = 0.23, p < .01) but only partially for women (β = 0.19, p < .01). This pattern suggests that Latino immigrant men may benefit from targeted alcohol use interventions that address the impact of psychological symptoms related to discrimination.