Unfair treatment, racial/ethnic discrimination, ethnic identification, and smoking among Asian Americans in the National Latino and Asian American Study.

Abstract

We examined the relations of self-report of general unfair treatment and self-report of race/ethnicity-specific discrimination with current smoking among Asian Americans. We investigated whether ethnic identification moderated either association. Weighted logistic regressions were performed among 1977 Asian Americans recruited to the National Latino and Asian American Study (2002-2003). In weighted multivariate logistic regression models including both general unfair treatment and racial/ethnic discrimination, odds of current smoking were higher among Asian Americans who reported high levels of unfair treatment (odds ratio [OR]=2.80; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.13, 6.95) and high levels of racial/ethnic discrimination (OR=2.40; 95% CI=0.94, 6.12) compared with those who reported no unfair treatment and discrimination, respectively. High levels of ethnic identification moderated racial/ethnic discrimination (F(3) =3.25; P =.03). High levels of ethnic identification were associated with lower probability of current smoking among participants reporting high levels of racial/ethnic discrimination. Our findings suggest that experiences of unfair treatment and racial/ethnic discrimination are risk factors for smoking among Asian Americans. Efforts to promote ethnic identification may be effective in mitigating the influence of racial/ethnic discrimination on smoking in this population.