CULTURAL-DIVERSITY IN THE PREDICTORS OF ADOLESCENT CIGARETTE-SMOKING - THE RELATIVE INFLUENCE OF PEERS

A culturally diverse sample of 4375 adolescents completed a self-repor t inventory assessing their current amount of smoking, and several psy chosocial predictors of smoking (eg., depression, anger, stress, smoki ng among peers, etc). Results revealed that Whites smoke more than Bla cks, Asians, and less acculturated Latinos but not more than highly ac culturated Latinos. Stepwise regression analyses of the predictors of smoking found significant ethnic and acculturation differences in the relative predictive power of 18 well-known risk factors. Smoking among peers was the best predictor of smoking for White adolescents (accoun ting for 23.5% of the variance) but accounted for only 15% of the vari ance for Latino youth, 9.6% of the variance for Asian youth, and none of the variance for Black youth. Results are discussed in terms of the ir implications for smoking prevention programs that focus on resistin g peer influences.