Smoking Correlates Among Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White Adolescents in the US Southwest

Abstract

We examined smoking correlates among Hispanic and white students in 6–12th grades in small communities in three states in the southwestern United States. Data were collected in 2002 from 8,479 participants, who completed surveys measuring a wide range of potential smoking correlates from individual, family, and peer domains. Logistic regression analyses showed that peer factors were the most robust correlates across both ethnicities and grade groups. An unexpected finding was the posited protective effect of male gender for older white students. Limitations and implications for prevention are discussed. This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

RÉSUMÉ

Corrélats de tabagisme parmi les adolescents blancs et hispaniques du Sud-Ouest des Etats-Unis

Nous avons étudié les corrélats de tabagisme dans de petites communautés d’élèves hispaniques et blancs de la sixième à la terminale dans trois États du Sud-Ouest des États-Unis. Les données ont été recueillies en 2002 auprès de 8,479 élèves interrogés par sondage afin de mesurer un large éventail de corrélats de tabagisme des domaines individuel, familial et affinitaire. Les analyses de régression logistique ont montré que les facteurs affinitaires représentaient les corrélats les plus solides à la fois à travers l’appartenance ethnique et les groupes classés par niveau d’étude. Résultat inattendu : l’effet protecteur du sexe masculin pour les élèves blancs plus âgés. Les limites et les incidences pour la prévention sont également discutées. Ce travail a bénéficié du soutien financier du National Institute on Drug Abuse.

RESUMEN

Correlativos de fumar entre adolescentes hispanos y blancos no-hispanos en el Suroeste de los Estados Unidos

Examinamos correlativos de fumar entre estudiantes Hispanos y Blancos en grados escolares 6–12, de comunidades pequeñas en tres estados del Suroeste de Estados Unidos. Los datos fueron juntados en el 2002 y representan 8,479 participantes, quienes completaron las encuestas midiendo un amplio alcance de correlativos de fumar por individuos, familias y compañeros de un territorio. El análisis de regresión logístico demostró que el factor de compañerismo fue el correlativo más fuerte a través de ambos grupos étnicos y de grado escolar. Un hallazgo inesperado fue el efecto de protección del género masculino por estudiantes blancos de mayor edad. Limitaciones e implicaciones para la prevención son discutidas. Este trabajo fue apoyado por el National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Keywords :

• smoking predictors
• Hispanic
• youth
• tobacco
• prevention
• adolescent smoking

THE AUTHORS

Maria Leonora G. Comello, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on health communication and risk behaviors. She is particularly interested in the construct of identity as an outcome and an influencer of health-related communication.

Kathleen J. Kelly, Ph.D., is a professor of Marketing at Colorado State University. An expert on social marketing, Dr. Kelly's work bridges the gap between business and social issues by demonstrating that commercial marketing techniques can be applied to the service of social causes. She has received numerous grants to study the impact of efforts designed to reduce alcohol, tobacco, and other substance use, particularly among youth.

Randall C. Swaim, Ph.D., is trained as a counseling psychologist and has conducted studies of adolescent substance use, anger, and violence for the past 22 years. He has been funded by National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Colorado Tobacco Research Program. He is currently the Principal Investigator (PI) of a grant funded by NIAAA, examining the contextual effects of community characteristics on rural adolescent alcohol use. He is also the co-PI of “Drug Use Among Young Indians: Epidemiology & Prediction,” funded by NIDA.

Kimberly L. Henry, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Psychology Department at Colorado State University. She completed her Ph.D. in Biobehavioral Health at Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on adolescent pro-social development, school engagement, and prevention science.

Notes

3 The reader is referred to Hills's (1965) criteria for causation that were developed in order to help assist researchers and clinicians determine if risk factors were causes of a particular disease or outcomes or merely associated. Editor's note.