Ethnic group differences in vulnerability to parental alcoholism and life stress: a study of Hispanic and non-Hispanic Caucasian adolescents.

Tested Hispanic and Caucasian adolescents' vulnerability to parental alcoholism and life stress. Sixty-nine Hispanic and 237 Caucasian adolescents completed measures of life stress, social support, and alcohol use. Their parents reported on the adolescents' psychological symptoms and their own alcohol and substance use. Parental alcoholism and life stress were related to almost all indicators of adolescents' psychological distress and alcohol use. In addition, results showed some evidence that Caucasian adolescents were more vulnerable to the effects of life stress and parental alcoholism than Hispanics. Neither social support nor the higher substance use of Caucasian parents provided a good explanation for this differential vulnerability.