Predictors of Arab American Adolescent Tobacco Use

• Published in: Merrill-Palmer Quarterly Vol. 52; no. 2; pp. 327 - 342
• Main Authors: Rice, Virginia Hill, Weglicki, Linda S., Templin, Thomas, Hammad, Adnan, Jamil, Hikmet, Kulwicki, Anahid
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wayne State University Press 01.04.2006
• Subjects: Adolescents; Age Differences; Age groups; Arab Americans; Arabs; Cigarette smoking; Cigarettes; Environmental Influences; Family Influence; Family members; Health aspects; Health risk assessment; High School Students; Peer Influence; Predictor Variables; Psychological Patterns; Public health; Questionnaires; Rice, Linda; Smoking; Smoking and youth; Smoking cessation; Social Influences; Sociocultural factors; Surveys; Teenagers; Tobacco; Tobacco use; Trend Analysis; United States; Middle East; Lebanon; Atlanta Georgia; United States > US; Detroit Michigan; Virginia; Michigan
• ISSN: 0272-930X; 1535-0266; 1535-0266
• DOI: 10.1353/mpq.2006.0020

This study examined personal, psychosocial, sociocultural, and environmental predictors in tobacco use for 1,671 Arab American adolescents. Cigarette smoking in the past 30 days was 6.9%. This increased from 1% at age 14 to 14% at age 18. Twenty-nine percent of the youths reported having ever smoked cigarettes. Experimentation with narghile was 27%; it increased from 23% at 14 years to 40% at 18 years. All trends were significant (p <.001). Logistic regression analyses found 11 predictors for having smoked a cigarette in the past 30 days and 9 and 7 predictors, respectively, for having ever smoked a cigarette or the narghile. Tobacco use by friends and family members was the strongest predictor of cigarette and narghile smoking. Narghile use supported cigarette smoking.