The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Hispanics are the most rapidly-growing ethnic minority group in the United States. Many Hispanic adolescents are immigrants or children of immigrants. In immigrant families, family conflict can arise when children acculturate more rapidly than their parents. Family conflict and breakdowns in parental authority may increase the risk of smoking among the adolescents. This study tested the hypothesis that parent-child discrepancies in acculturation and ethnic identity increase risk of tobacco use among Hispanic adolescents.

Methods: Survey data were obtained from over 2000 Hispanic 9th grade students in predominantly Hispanic high schools in Southern California. The surveys assessed their acculturation, ethnic identity, perceptions of their parents' ethnic orientation, perceptions of ethnic discrimination, and smoking behavior. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the significant predictors of smoking.

Results: The strength of the adolescents' Hispanic ethnic identity, and the strength of their parents' Hispanic ethnic orientation, were protective against smoking. Furthermore, there was an interaction between adolescents' and parents' ethnic identities; adolescents with weak Hispanic identity whose parents were very Hispanic-oriented were at greatest risk for smoking.

Conclusion: These results support the hypothesis that discrepancies in acculturation and ethnic identity between adolescents and their parents increase the adolescents' risk of smoking. Smoking prevention interventions are needed for acculturating Hispanic families.