ABSTRACT
SUMMARY. Researchers have conducted very few studies on substance use among Asian American youths, and current etiological studies have suffered from a number of methodological shortcomings: They employ small sample sizes; they define "Asian" race/ethnicity so broadly that they do not distinguish among different Asian American subpopulations; they do not distinguish between U.S.-born Asian Americans and recent immigrants; they employ only a cross-sectional research design; they do not control for factors that may be confounded with race/ethnicity; and they do not consider cultural differences in self-reports of alcohol and drug use. Moreover, these studies lack adequate theoretical frameworks and have several conceptual limitations, including their failure to identify sa38lient components of race/ethnicity as risk or protective factors, their lack of attention to the role of the family in the adaptation process, and their failure to consider the interactive and mediating effects of contextual factors between race/ethnicity and alcohol and drug use. To address these methodological and conceptual limitations, this paper proposes a new conceptual model, one which incorporates a family-risk paradigm and stress-coping perspectives. The paper also discusses the methodological considerations for applying this model successfully. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: getinfo@haworthpressinc. com]
