Smoking Susceptibility and Attitudes Toward Smoking Among Chinese and Vietnamese American Adolescents

Abstract

In California, 641 Chinese and 629 Vietnamese age 12–17 participated in a longitudinal telephone study from 1999 to 2001. Four attitude scales were constructed: acceptance of smokers, addictive nature of smoking, psychosocial reasons to smoke, and gender roles and smoking. Vietnamese American adolescents had more pro-smoking attitudes than Chinese American adolescents. Male gender, having friends who smoked, and baseline smoking were associated with smoking susceptibility at follow-up. Those factors, U.S. birthplace, and the acceptance and psychosocial scales were associated with smoking. Smoking prevention efforts targeting Chinese and Vietnamese American adolescents should focus on gender, birthplace, peer smoking, and attitudes.

Key Words:

• Smoking
• Asian
• attitudes
• Chinese
• Vietnamese
• adolescents