Louis Lieberman

Traditional Family Values

What is “traditionalism” and how does it relate to family values? What are the family values that concern parental responsibility in raising children? Who do the Puerto Ricans say should be the decision maker in the family? Should women with small children work outside the home? Should husbands share responsibility for housework? Should a wife always obey her husband? Should a wife continue her formal education after marriage? If possible, should she choose to earn more money than her husband does? Should boys and girls be raised with similar attitudes about helping with housework? Who makes the major decisions for the family and who is responsible for the decisions for everyday activities? How religious are they? Does fatalism play a role in their major decisions and problems?

Substance Use Outcomes

What are the main explanations for alcohol and drug abuse among Hispanics? How do we operationalize and measure alcohol extent and patterns of use, drinking problems, and drug use? How do background factors relate to substance use outcomes?

Use of a Short Gambling Screen with an Arrestee Population: A Feasibility Study

Problem gamblers have been disproportionally found among prisoners. This study sought to (1) demonstrate if a short screening instrument (Lie/Bet Questionnaire) can expeditiously identify problem gamblers during the initial Criminal Justice System stage, and (2) examine the relationships between problem gambling and criminality among arrestees. Surveys were conducted with 959 inmates (from 1,445 approached) at a Central Booking Facility in Tampa, Florida. Among those surveyed, 81% were male with average age of 32.9. Ethnic distribution of those surveyed was Blacks (35.8%), Whites (43.3%), Hispanics (19.3%), Others (2.4%). Sixty-eight percent had completed trade school or less, 20% had some college and 12% were college graduates. Among those reporting gambling the year prior, 32.7% were problem gamblers according to the Lie/Bet. If including those who declined, the percent drops to a considerable 17.4% of the entire sample. Problem gamblers were significantly more likely to be charged with a drug or status crime, as well as being charged with a felony. Feasibility of screening inmates in an intake facility using the Lie/Bet Questionnaire was found. Furthermore, we found a need for gambling screening. Gambling courts should be considered.

A Typology of Integration

Puerto Ricans living on the mainland vary on the two dimensions of acculturation and traditionalism. These reflect different degrees of integration into mainstream (Anglo) culture. What can we learn from the construction of representative types based on different lifestyles of integration? What are the main demographic characteristics of those persons categorized into each of these types? How do these types relate to the substance misuse and abuse outcomes?

Coming to the Mainland and the Acculturation Process

Why do individuals and families migrate from “the Island” to the mainland? Were their aspirations met? How extensive are their ties to the Island culture? How “Anglocized” have they become? How much English do they speak, read, and write? Do they socialize with non-Hispanics? Do they watch Hispanic TV and listen to Hispanic music? What do they consider their main identity to be: Puerto Rican or American? How do we measure and what is their degree of acculturation and identity?

Impact of Acculturation and Traditionalism

What have been the substance use, misuse, and abuse consequences for Puerto Ricans of becoming “Anglocized” or more like their English speaking counterparts on the mainland? Is substance misuse and the abuse problems arising from this a result of the striving to be like “everyone else” and integrating into the larger Anglo community? Which parts of this transition process are most related to substance misuse and abuse? Is the movement toward substance misuse and abuse merely a matter of time spent on the mainland or differences in education and class that result in the stresses of acculturation? Are the substance abuse problems of Puerto Ricans on the mainland more a product of the stresses resulting from their striving to “fit in” or during this process have they lost their commitment to certain traditional values that had served to protect them on “the Island?”

Ethnotherapy Implications and Conclusions

In this volume we have analyzed a sample of the mainland Puerto Rican population to examine and test the proposition that a general loss of traditional family values—measured by gender-related values of the roles and behavior of family members—may contribute to the specific albeit unrelated deviant outcomes of alcohol and drug use. More specifically, we have contended that it is not necessarily the adherence to or lack of specific regulatory norms that may affect drug and alcohol use behaviors of Puerto Ricans in mainland United States, but rather adherence to or rejection of a general commitment to Hispanic values. This we have called “traditionalism,” particularly as it relates to the definitions of gender role behavior of Puerto Rican men and women. These values had once served, for women, as a brake or control mechanism on substance misuse. While many researchers, who have studied drug and alcohol abuse among Hispanics, including Puerto Ricans, have suggested acculturation alone as the explanation for changing substance use patterns of these Hispanics in the United States, we have attempted to demonstrate that rather, it is the movement away from “traditionalism” itself that effects an increase in substance misuse and abuse.

Drinking Attitudes and Beliefs

How do parents’ drinking affect the likelihood of their children drinking? What are the expectations of the effect of drinking for one’s self and for others? What are the perceived benefits of drinking by men and women? What is the relationship between alcohol expectancies and abstinence, level of drinking, and problematic outcomes? What rationales are used for drinking and which ones are used to curb ones’ drinking? Do positive attitudes encourage drinking and do negative attitudes discourage drinking? What are the Puerto Rican norms concerning how much to drink and where? How much permission is given for persons to drink at different ages? How do Puerto Ricans view alcoholism and drunkenness? Who goes for help and where?

The Puerto Ricans

According to the US Census Bureau (Campbell, 1996 p. 2), the Hispanic origin population is projected to increase rapidly over the 1995 to 2025 projection period, accounting for 44 percent of the growth in the Nation’s population (32 million Hispanics out of a total of 72 million persons added to the Nation2019;s population).