Abstract
Although the school-class is known to be an important setting for adolescent risk behavior, little is known about how the ethnic composition of a school-class impacts substance use among pupils with a migration background. Moreover, the few existing studies do not distinguish between co-ethnic density (i.e., the share of immigrants belonging to one’s own ethnic group) and immigrant density (the share of all immigrants). This is all the more surprising since a high co-ethnic density can be expected to protect against substance use by increasing levels of social support and decreasing acculturative stress, whereas a high immigrant density can be expected to do the opposite by facilitating inter-ethnic conflict and identity threat. This study analyses how co-ethnic density and immigrant density are correlated with smoking among pupils of Portuguese origin in Luxembourg. A multi-level analysis is used to analyze data from the Luxembourg Health Behavior in School-Aged Children study (N = 4268 pupils from 283 classes). High levels of co-ethnic density reduced current smoking. In contrast, high levels of immigrant density increased it. Thus, in research on the health of migrants, the distinction between co-ethnic density and immigrant density should be taken into account, as both may have opposite effects.
Highlights
Adolescence is a time of heightened risk taking when substance use is usually initiated [1].As peer evaluations gain utmost importance during this period [2] peer modelling and peer pressure mechanisms unfolding in the school-class setting play a central role in determining adolescent substance use [3]
The corresponding odds ratio (OR) is 1.47, which means that a one year increase in mean age in class leads to a 47% increase in the odds of current smoking
The current study suggests that school-class ethnic composition might be a contributing factor to immigrant adolescent substance use
Summary
As peer evaluations gain utmost importance during this period [2] peer modelling and peer pressure mechanisms unfolding in the school-class setting play a central role in determining adolescent substance use [3]. In the case of immigrant adolescents the role of the school-class and its ethnic composition might be even more pronounced because school-classes constitute one of the most important acculturation contexts [4] and, as such, their ethnic makeup is likely to affect levels of acculturative stress among them, which, in turn, can have an impact on substance use [5,6]. As school-classes in many countries increasingly vary in their ethnic composition [7], investigating the association between school-class ethnic composition and substance use among immigrant adolescents becomes increasingly important. Studies examining those effects differ in how they conceptualize ethnic density
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