| This study developed a Chinese adolescent cultural orientation scale to explore the influence of westernization on Chinese adolescents' drinking practices in China. It conceptualized cultural orientation as having two dimensions, one western and the other indigenous. This allows the classification of individuals into four cultural orientation categories: western, indigenous, bi-cultural, and marginal. Three preliminary studies led to the development of a 78 item cultural orientation scale. The relationship of cultural orientation and drinking behaviors was explored with 909 tenth-eleventh grade students (male=297 and female=612) in Beijing, Capital of China, and to 1,021 tenth-eleventh grade students (male=585 and female=402) in Haikou, Capital of Hainan province, China, May-June, 2005.; The final version of the cultural orientation scale had acceptable psychometric properties. Approximately 29% of the participants in the study were classified as western in their cultural orientation, 28.2% as indigenous, 14.7% as bi-cultural, and 27.7% as marginal. Cultural orientation was associated with drinking frequency but not with drinking quantity because drinking quantity measures proved unreliable. Students with western orientation were more likely to be drinkers and drink more frequently than students with indigenous orientation. Students with bi-cultural orientation were more likely to be drinkers and drink more frequently than students with marginal cultural orientation. |
