The Hispanic Americans Baseline Alcohol Survey (HABLAS):Predictive invariance of Demographic Characteristics on Attitudes towards Alcohol across Hispanic National Groups (original) (raw)

Background: Multiple theoretical frameworks identify attitudes and expectancies as important predictors of alcohol behavior. Few studies have examined demographic predictors of these evaluative and belief-based cognitive mediators in the general population, and none have examined them in large-scale studies of Hispanics, a group at higher risk for drinking behavior and problems. This study probes the extent to which dimensions of attitudes and expectancies share common demographic predictors in a large sample of Puerto Ricans, Cuban-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and South ⁄ Central Americans.