Predictors of smoking prevalence among New York Latino youth

BACKGROUND

We examined prevalence rates and risk factors for smoking among Latino adolescents, using a multiethnic sample of sixth- and seventh-grade students (n = 3129) in 47 New York City public and parochial schools.

METHODS

The students completed questionnaires; self-reported smoking data were collected by means of the "bogus pipeline" technique. The largest group of Latino students (43%) was Puerto Rican; 20% were of Dominican background, 7% were Colombian, and 7% were Ecuadorian. "Current smoking" was defined as smoking at least once per month.

RESULTS

A series of logistic regression analyses indicated that peer influence was the strongest predictor of smoking. Family influence was important as well.

CONCLUSIONS

The results are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention.

Smoking prevention among urban minority youth: Assessing effects on outcome and mediating variables

We tested the effectiveness of a social resistance/competence enhancement approach to smoking prevention among predominantly Hispanic seventh graders (N = 3,153) from 47 New York City schools. After blocking on school type (public and parochial) and ethnic composition (percent Hispanic), schools were randomly assigned either to receive the 15-session prevention program or to serve as no-contact controls. Using the school as the unit of analysis, significant program effects were found for cigarette smoking, normative expectations concerning peer and adult smoking, smoking prevalence knowledge, social acceptability knowledge, and knowledge of smoking consequences. Using structural modeling techniques, a significant relation was found between the normative expectation and knowledge variables affected by the intervention and posttest smoking, suggesting that changes on these variables mediated the impact of the intervention on cigarette smoking. This study extends the results of previous prevention research and demonstrates the generalizability of this approach to predominantly Hispanic urban minority students.

Ethnicity and psychosocial factors in alcohol and tobacco use in adolescence

Research on ethnic group differences has suggested that (a) adolescents from various groups differ on a number of dimensions that have been related to risk for substance use initiation, and (b) adolescents of different groups choose different substances. However, there is little consensus regarding the reasons for such differences. There is an especially high rate of alcohol use among Hispanic adolescents, and Hispanics are at high risk for alcohol abuse. In light of ethnic group differences in both substance use and the precursors of substance use in adolescence, this study examined differences among black, Anglo, Puerto Rican, and Dominican adolescents in the relation between cigarette and alcohol use and psychosocial functioning. Comparisons between the Puerto Rican and Dominican subjects were of special interest due to preexisting differences between these groups that may be attributed to acculturation. Results provided evidence of the importance of acculturation in modifying psychosocial vulnerability, especially for alcohol use, with the Dominican group at highest risk.

A skills training approach to smoking prevention among Hispanic youth

The present study was designed to test the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of a 15-session smoking prevention intervention with a predominantly hispanic (74%) sample of seventh-grade students (N = 471) in eight urban schools in the New York area. The smoking prevention curriculum teaches social resistance skills within the context of a broader intervention promoting general personal and social competence and was implemented in this study by regular classroom teachers. Results of logistic regression analyses provided preliminary evidence of the efficacy of this type of smoking prevention strategy with urban minority youth when implemented with a reasonable degree of fidelity. The significance of these findings is that they provide support for the generalizability of an approach previously found to be effective with white middle-class populations to a predominantly hispanic inner-city population.