Abstract
Purpose This study examined differences in smoking prevalence and differences in associations between family functioning, self-image and adolescent smoking behavior among four Asian-American subgroups. Methods Statistical analyses were conducted on responses about their smoking behaviors from 1139 students who self-identified as Chinese-Americans, Filipino-Americans, Korean-Americans, and Vietnamese-Americans. Results Significant differences in the prevalence of ever-tried smoking and 30-day smoking were found across subgroups, but there were no overall gender differences. Korean-American adolescents reported the highest lifetime smoking and 30-day smoking rates, followed by Vietnamese- and Filipino-Americans. Chinese-Americans reported the lowest smoking rates. There were also differences in the associations between smoking and family functioning and self-image across the four subgroups. High family functioning was inversely associated with smoking for Chinese- and Korean-American adolescents, but not for Filipino- and Vietnamese-Americans. On the other hand, high self-image was associated with decreased risk of smoking for Filipino- and Vietnamese-Americans, but not for the other two subgroups. Conclusion Findings of this study demonstrate that family functioning and self-image varied across Asian-American subgroups. This suggests the need to understand etiological differences between the groups as well as potential implications for prevention cessation programs.
Highlights
The onset of tobacco use occurs primarily in early adolescence
Because the primary goal of the current study was to examine predictors of smoking for Asian-American adolescents across the four Asian-American subgroups, statistical analyses were conducted on responses from 1139 students who self-identified themselves as Chinese-Americans (n ϭ 402), Filipino-Americans (n ϭ 269), Korean-Americans (n ϭ 198), and Vietnamese-Americans (n ϭ 270)
When parental education was dichotomized as high (Ն 12 years of education) versus low (Ͻ 12 years of education), there were significant differences across subgroups, 2 (3) ϭ 143.4, p ϭ .000, with Filipino- and Korean-Americans reporting higher parental education than Chinese- and VietnameseAmericans
Summary
Factors associated with adolescent smoking initiation, such as acculturation, peer influence, family functioning, self-image, and media exposure, operate differently across ethnic groups [1,2,3,4,5]. Chinese have the lowest rates, and Vietnamese are in the middle [9,15,16] These studies examined the effect of acculturation level on smoking initiation among Asian-American adolescents. Adolescents may become frustrated if they perceive that such communication is impossible; they may react by minimizing their interaction with parents in favor of interaction with peers In such cases, parents’ opinions about substance use may hold little sway, because the adolescent does not see the parent as a person who can engage in mutual dialogue [26,28]. Perhaps because of differences in immigration history, there are important variations in pre- and post-immigration economic status, level of acculturation, maintenance of the traditional family structure, and quality of parent-child communication [29,32,33]
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