(PS1-19) Drinking Patterns Between Asian and White College Students: A Latent Profile Analysis

Title: Drinking Patterns between Asian and White College Students: A Latent Profile Analysis

Authors: Duy Tran^1,2, Matthew Yalch¹, Joyce Chu¹, & Amie Haas¹

Affiliations: ¹Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA

²Naval Medical Center, San Diego, CA

College students are ubiquitously at risk for heavy alcohol consumption and problems, but there is a paucity of work examining ethnic differences in risk factors for drinking, particularly cognitions. The current study examined differences in motives and expectancies between Asian and White college students by conducting multi-group latent profile analyses (LPA) to identify potential variance in types and/or proportions of profiles.  Students from three universities (N = 1077, 81.5% of overall sample; 57.9% female, 51.8% Pan Asian, 48.2% White) completed the DMQ-R, CEOA, and DDQ. Motives (DMQ-R subscales) and expectancy valences (positive/negative) served as indicators and separate LPAs were run for the Asian and White subsets. Results yielded two identical profiles, with proportions within profiles differing by ethnicity. Profile 1 (High Motive/Positive Valence) was 10.6% and 11.8%, respectively. Profile 2 (Moderate Motive/Positive Valence) was 38.9% and 42.6%, respectively. Profile 3 (Low Motive/Neutral Valence) was 31.5% and 31.6%, respectively. Profile 4 (Low Motive/Negative Valence) was 19.0% and 14.1%, respectively. Across both groups, Profile 1 endorsed the highest heavy episodic drinking (M = 0.88), quantity-frequency index (M = 2.71), and consequences (M = 10.41). Profile 2 endorsed the next highest of these measures followed by Profiles 3 and 4, respectively. Overall, results suggest differences in alcohol consumption and consequences between profiles of college drinkers. Furthermore, Asian and White college students may endorse differences in motives and expectancies. Clinicians and prevention programs should consider the unique profile of drinking among Asian and White college students when tailoring their interventions.