CHINESE AMERICANS, ALCOHOL AND DRUG USE AMONG

In 1980, the Chinese-American community, with a population of 812,178, comprised the largest subpopulation of Asian/Pacific Islanders in the United States. During the 1980s, the population of Chinese Americans nearly doubled—1,618,973 according to the 1990 data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census (although the Filipino-American community had by then become the largest Asian subgroup). The largest numbers of Chinese Americans reported in the 1990 census are in the states of California (704,850), New York (284,144), Hawaii (68,804), Texas (63,232), New Jersey (59,084), Massachusetts (53,792), and Illinois (49,936). The Chinese-American ethnic community actually consists of people from many countries, and recent waves of immigration especially contribute to the heterogeneity of this ethnic group. Chinese immigrants have come to the United States from British Hong Kong, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and from various countries in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Approximately 63.3 percent of the Chinese-American respondents to the 1980 census had been foreign (non-U.S.) born.

ALCOHOL

In China, historically, alcohol was sanctioned for religious ceremonies, especially ancestor worship. Today, in China and among Chinese immigrants, alcohol is commonly served at celebrations and banquets, and some people consume alcohol at meals—beer, wine, brandy, or whiskey. Drinking-centered institutions, however, are absent (Hsu, 1955; Singer, 1972; Wang, 1968). In Chinese tradition, moderate drinking is believed to have medicinal effects, but excessive use is believed to bring on "nine-fold harm" (Yu & Liu, 1986/87) and is condemned in folk culture as one of the four vices. Many hypothesize that cultural influences are important in shaping drug-use patterns as well as beliefs about drug use. Some research ties cultural beliefs to differences in drinking patterns, despite similarities in availability (Glassner & Berg, 1980; Mizruchi & Perrucci, 1962).

Chinese cultural beliefs regarding the religious and medicinal benefits of moderate drinking and the harm associated with excessive use may control drinking patterns in China, but when people move into a new cultural setting, their alcohol use may be influenced by the extent to which they adopt the values of the surrounding culture. Sue (1987) states that alcohol abuse is more congruent with American than Chinese values, since Chinese values are antithetical to alcohol abuse. This "acculturation hypothesis" (Austin & Lee, 1989) has received mixed support with respect to the experience of Chinese Americans. This suggests that more investigation is necessary to help determine which influences result in the retention of cultural values and which result in adaptation to the new culture.

OPIUM

Opium is thought to have been introduced to China by Arab traders during the ninth century. Initially, it was taken internally as medicine (Singer, 1974). Not until the mid-seventeenth century was the practice of smoking opium (usually in pipes) introduced by the Portuguese. Little of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum ) was actually grown or used in China before the sixteenth century. By the eighteenth century, however, opium had become a profitable cash cargo—from British India to China's ports, where foreigners were allowed only confined access to trade—for the Portuguese, Dutch, and English—and then after 1810 for the Americans (Goodie, 1963). Smoking opium had become so widespread and so debilitating in China that its sale was forbidden by imperial decree as early as 1729 and its importation was prohibited in 1800. The emperor's declarations were not universally honored, however, and much disagreement existed on how to deal with opium addictions, the drain of silver to foreigners, and the tribute system of then-developing foreign relations (Fairbank, Reischauer, & Craig, 1965).

Meanwhile, an illicit opium trade continued to grow—for example, from approximately 5,000 chests imported to Canton in 1821 by British traders to approximately 30,000 chests by the late 1830s (Fairbank, Reischauer, & Craig, 1965). Efforts in an anti-opium campaign were stepped up, and hostilities between China and Britain eventually led to the Opium Wars. Britain had asserted that it was not bound by the trade restrictions imposed on Canton, and Britain won the wars. As a result, Hong Kong, a major port and center for all kinds of trade, was ceded to Britain in 1842. Illicit opium remained an important export until 1911, at which time the British Parliament forbade its shipment to China. By this time, however, cultivation of the opium poppy was flourishing in China, and markets for Morphine, Heroin, and other narcotic concentrates were growing. Although opium dens provided an atmosphere and opportunity for drug use by individuals or as a social activity, in China opium smoking remained one of the four vices.

Much of the research on Alcohol and other drug use has grouped all Asians and Pacific Islanders together. Only two studies have compared Asian groups, and they have suggested significant differences among them. In a 1981 study conducted in Los Angeles, Kitano and Chi (1986-1987) found differences in alcohol consumption patterns among respondents from four groups of Asians: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Filipino. Most of the respondents were from thirty to sixty-one years old. Except in the Japanese sample, the majority were foreign born and most had an average annual income of 20,000 to 30,000 dollars. Among these four groups, the following identified themselves as abstainers: 31.2 percent of Chinese males and 68.8 percent of females; 32.8 percent of Japanese males and 33.8 percent of females; 34.5 percent of Filipino males and 80.0 percent of females; and 45.8 percent of Korean males and 81.6 percent of females.

The lowest prevalence of heavy drinking was reported by Chinese Americans (14% male, 0% female), followed by Koreans (25.8% male, 0.8% female), Filipinos (29.0% male, 3.5% female), and Japanese (28.9% male, 11.7% female). Most of the male heavy drinkers were in the age category 26-35 among Chinese, in the age category 36-45 among Koreans, and evenly divided among age categories for Japanese and Filipinos.

Kitano and Chi found that among Chinese Americans in their Los Angeles sample those most likely to drink at any level were men, under the age of forty-five, and of relatively high social and educational background. They found that parental drinking and going to or giving parties were the most important variables distinguishing drinkers from abstainers among their Chinese adult male sample (Chi, Kitano, & Lubben, 1988). Going to bars and having friends who drank were also significant factors.

CONCLUSION

More rigorous surveys are still needed to obtain an accurate picture of alcohol- and other drug-use patterns among Chinese Americans. Since this is a heterogeneous group, future studies should take into account whether people in the sample are U.S. or foreign born, their country of origin, their degree of acculturation, and other demographic characteristics that will provide a better basis for comparison with other groups.

Although it has long been asserted that responses to drug problems should be sensitive to cultural diversity, until recently little research has focused on drug use among people other than blacks or whites in the United States. Such research would be useful for developing culturally appropriate interventions.

(See also: Ethnic Issues and Cultural Relevance in Treatment ; Ethnicity and Drugs ; Papaver somniferum )

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Austin, G., & Lee, H. (1989). Substance abuse among Asian-American youth (Prevention Research Update 5, Winter). Portland, OR: Western Center for Drug-Free Schools and Communities.

Cahalan, D., & Cisin, I. H. (1976). Drinking behavior and drinking problems in the United States. In B. Kissin & H. Begleiter (Eds.), Social aspects of alcoholism. New York: Plenum.

Chi, I., Kitano, H.H.L., & Lubben, J. E. (1988). Male Chinese drinking behavior in Los Angeles. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 49 (1), 21-25.

Fairbank, J. K., Reischauer, E. O., & Craig, A.M. (1965). East Asia: The modern transformation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Glassner, B., & Berg, B. (1980). How Jews avoid alcohol problems. American Sociological Review, 45, 647-664.

Goodrich, L. C. (1963). A short history of the Chinese people. New York: Harper & Row.

Hsu, F. L. K. (1955). American and Chinese. London: Cresset Press.

Kitano, H.H.L., & Chi, I. (1986-1987). Asian-Americans and alcohol use. Alcohol Health and Research World, 11 (2), 42-47.

Mizruchi, E. H., & Perrucci, R. (1962). Norm qualities and differential effects of deviant behavior: An exploratory analysis. American Sociological Review, 27, 391-399.

Singer, K. (1974). The choice of intoxicant among the Chinese. British Journal of Addiction, 69, 257-268.

Singer, K. (1972). Drinking patterns and alcoholism in the Chinese. British Journal of Addiction, 67, 3-14.

Sue, D. (1987). Use and abuse of alcohol by Asian Americans. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 19 (1), 57-66.

Wang, R. P. (1968). A study of alcoholism in Chinatown. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 14, 260-267.

Yu, E. S. H., & Liu, W. T. (1986/87). Alcohol use and abuse among Chinese-Americans. Alcohol Health and Research World, 11 (2), 14-17, 60.

Richard F. Catalano

Tracy W. Harachi