(PS4-47) Buscando Apoyo: Does Informal Help-seeking Moderate the Association Between Anxiety and Alcohol Use in a Sample of Predominantly Immigrant Latino Adults?

Abstract Text: Anti-immigrant rhetoric and exclusionary policies have increased fear and anxiety among Latinos, raising concerns over adverse mental health outcomes (Becerra et al., 2020; Rojas Perez et al., 2023). Yet, immigrants are significantly less likely to seek mental health services than those born in the U.S., a gap exacerbated by anti-immigrant rhetoric (Galvan et al., 2022). Recent findings demonstrate that, when seeking mental health support, Latinos prefer informal sources of care (i.e., family, friends, religious leaders) over professional mental health services (Gearing et al., 2024). This preference for informal support may affect the association between anxiety and other outcomes such as alcohol use, as Latino immigrants with strong social support report less alcohol use (Rojas et al., 2021). In addition, highly anxious people are more likely to use alcohol than those who are less anxious (Macias Burgos et al., 2024), highlighting the importance of understanding how informal help-seeking influences this association. Therefore, the present study aims to examine whether informal help-seeking moderates the relationship between anxiety and alcohol use in a sample of predominantly immigrant Latino adults.
Participants (n = 168) had a mean age of 40 years (SD = 14.13) and identified as 69.6% female, 29.2% male, and 1.2% non-binary . Most were Spanish-speaking (95.8%) and born in Central or South America (94%). Participants completed measures (in English or Spanish) related to alcohol use (Bush et al., 1998), informal help-seeking behaviors (Wilson et al., 2005), and anxiety symptoms (Spitzer et al., 2006).
A hierarchical regression was conducted to examine the moderating role of informal help-seeking on the relation between anxiety and alcohol use. Before analyses, the independent and moderator variables were mean-centered, and an interaction term was created. The overall model was significant, F(3,164) = 13.3, R2adj = .18, p = <.001. The main effect of anxiety was significant, B = .15 [95% CI: .09, .21], β = .36, p = <.001, such that greater anxiety was associated with more alcohol use. The main effect of informal-help seeking was insignificant, B = -.20 [95% CI: -.41, .01], β = -.14, p = .06, such that informal help-seeking did not predict alcohol use. Finally, the anxiety by informal help-seeking interaction was significant, B = -.09 [95% CI: -.14, -.03], β = -.22, p = .003, such that the positive association between anxiety and alcohol use was weakest for individuals with high levels of informal help-seeking compared to those with lower levels of informal help-seeking. These findings highlight the role informal support has in reducing the association between anxiety and alcohol use. Future research should integrate informal support systems into interventions to promote mental health engagement and better address the needs of the Latino community.