Understanding Alcohol Use Among U.S. Cambodians: How Useful is the Concept of Cultural Norms?. (3rd July 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pagano, Anna; Lee, Juliet P.; Sin, Talaya
• Is Part Of: Substance use & misuse. Volume 49:Number 8(2014)
• Page Start: 999
• Page End: 1006
• Publication Date: 2014-07-03
• Subjects: culture -- norms -- drinking -- alcohol -- immigrant -- Southeast Asian -- Cambodian; Narcotic habit -- Periodicals; Alcoholism -- Periodicals; Substance abuse -- Periodicals; Behavior, Addictive -- Periodicals; Sustance-Related Disorders -- Periodicals; 362.2905
• DOI: 10.3109/10826084.2013.855233
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1082-6084

Abstract

Abstract : Observed differences in substance use are frequently attributed to cultural norms, which in turn are often interpreted as fixed properties of ethnically defined groups. During a community-based participatory research study (2009–2011), U.S. Cambodian women identified community-specific drinking behaviors and beliefs. To test how widely other U.S. Cambodians shared their views, we formulated them into a series of normative statements and surveyed local community members ( N = 172). We identified few consensualized norms, which suggests that (A) norms may not be reducible to normative statements; and/or (B) norms may not be shared by all group members; and (C) if neither A nor B holds, then the attribution of observed drinking patterns to cultural norms lacks internal validity. Study's limitations were noted.