Forms and Pathology of Drinking in Three Polynesian Societies

Abstract

1 No exact figures exist on the comparative rates of alcoholism among agringados and conservative Mexican-Americans. Police, parole, and probation officers interviewed, however, all agree that alcoholism is far more common among the agringados than among the conservatives. My own observations among informants and in police courts further substantiate the concept that alcoholism increases with accelerated acculturation but incompleted assimilation. 2 Active field work of the Hidalgo Project on Differential Culture Change and Mental Health continued from 1957 to 1961. The staff consisted of: Antonieta Espejo, Albino Fantini, William Madsen (director), Octavio Romano, Arthur Rubel. The research was sponsored and financed by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, the University of Texas. 3 Unpublished research of Jack O. Waddell, University of Texas.