State of the Science: Alcohol Use and Acculturation-Related Factors Across Diverse Populations

Alcohol consumption can pose health risks and cause social problems, hence harmful drinking is a global health concern. Acculturation has been theorized and examined as a key driver for drinking behaviors. In this State of the Science article, we define sociocultural and psychological acculturation, and describe three causal theories associated with socialization and learning, stress and coping, and accessibility and opportunity. Data have shown small-to-moderate associations linking acculturation factors to drinking outcomes. Many existing studies measure acculturation with demographic proxies and static cultural orientation indicators. Underlying causal mechanisms are typically inferred rather than tested directly, with limited focus on key proximal factors such as stress responses, drinking motives, and cultural norms. Furthermore, current alcohol interventions lack alignment with acculturation science and fail to target modifiable, drinking-related factors. To advance the field and bridge research-to-practice gaps, studies should move beyond broad demographic markers and examine systematically the psychological and social pathways linking acculturation to alcohol use. We advocate for the adoption of context-specific measures, daily life study methods to capture acculturation’s dynamic effects on drinking, and research across diverse global populations. We call for the field to integrate the acculturation framework into broader alcohol research and interventions to address individual and cultural variations in drinking behaviors, incorporate sociocultural influences into existing models of alcohol use to bridge gaps in generalizability, and enhance intervention effectiveness.