Contextual Effects of Acculturation on Perinatal Substance Exposure among Immigrant and Native-Born Latinas

Objective. The objective of this paper is to determine whether community SES and community acculturation have an effect on substance exposure rates among pregnant Latinas. Methods. The hypotheses in this paper are tested with logistic regression analyses based on a file which merges individual-level data from the 1992 Perinatal Substance Exposure Study in California with 1990 census data. Results. Our findings indicate that community SES did not have a linear effect on substance prevalence rates for Latinas, except for a category of overall drug exposure. Higher levels of community acculturation had a direct relationship with prevalence rates for tobacco, marijuana, amphetamines, and any drug. Community acculturation also had a direct relationship with alcohol prevalence for English speakers, but an inverse relationship with Spanish speakers. Conclusions. Our results suggest that community acculturation is an important component of substance use studies of Latinas, above and beyond individual-level measures of acculturation.