Mental well-being is a relevant topic in migration research, because several stressors related to the migration process were found to affect mental health of immigrants and their offspring . Alcohol and substance abuse are health-risk behaviors that frequently affect the well-being of first and second-generation immigrants , and appeared predicted by migration stressors and processes of cultural assimilation. The first aim of the present research will be to examine the association of drunkorexia with various disordered eating behaviors and alcohol consumption in a sample of first and second-generation immigrant and native adolescents in Italy. The second goal was to investigate the motivations underlying drunkorexia and the third goal was to examine the relationship between drunkorexia and different dimensions of emotion regulation.
Until now, studies on protective and risk factors for alcohol abuse in adolescent immigrants were mainly focused on family and peers contexts, suggesting as risk factors for these adolescents: the presence of maladaptive acculturation processes (Fosados et al., 2007), the increased orientation towards peers who make substance use (Dillon et al., 2013), and the weakened family cohesion, with low emotional closeness and low parental monitoring, due to the family acculturation process (Bacio et al., 2013; Dillon et al., 2013). Also, the perception of migration-related parental trauma was found to increase alcohol abuse in second generation immigrant adolescents (Aviad-Wilchek et al., 2017). Conversely, positive family functioning related to high cohesion, high parental monitoring and parent-child communication were found to be protective factors against alcohol abuse among adolescents, moderating the effects of acculturation processes (Hahm et al., 2003; Fang & Schinke, 2011).Individual factors that could influence alcohol abuse in immigrant adolescents are still understudied, and to our knowledge there is a lack of research on emotion dysregulation related to alcohol abuse among immigrant adolescents.
Furthermore, considering that drunkorexia is a significant risk factor for mortality, the current results could be useful for programs concerned with promoting positive youth development. Certainly, results of this study should be considered in the context of some limitations. First, all of the information concerning experiences and behaviors of participants will be obtained through self-report measures. Second, the cross sectional design of the research will not permit causal inferences. Results need to be examined longitudinal research to provide the potential long-term effects and the implications of emotion regulation as protective factors for psychosocial outcomes in immigrant and native adolescents. The present study could have implications for future empirical investigation and also for clinical intervention.