ETHNIC COMPARISON OF ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS ABOUT CIGARETTE-SMOKING

OBJECTIVE: To determine if hypothesized differences in attitudes and b eliefs about cigarette smoking between Latino and non-Latino white smo kers are independent off years of formal education and number of cigar ettes smoked per day. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey using a random di git dial telephone method. SETTING: San Francisco census tracts with a t least 10% Latinos in the 1990 Census. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred tw elve Latinos (198 men and 114 women) and 354 non-latino whites (186 me n and 168 women), 18 to 65 years of age, who were current cigarette sm okers participated. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Self-reports of cig arette smoking behavior, antecedents to smoking, reasons to quit smoki ng, and reasons to continue smoking were the measures. Latino smokers were younger (36.6 vs 39.6 pears, p < .01), had fewer years of educati on (11.0 vs 14.3 years, p < .001), and smoked on average fewer cigaret tes per day (9.7 vs 20.1, p < .001). Compared with whites, Latino smok ers were less likely to report smoking ''almost always or often'' afte r 13 of 17 antecedents (each p < .001), and more likely to consider it important to quit for 12 of 15 reasons (each p < .001). In multivaria te analyses after adjusting for gender, age, education, income, and nu mber of cigarettes smoked per day, Latino ethnicity was a significant predictor of being less likely to smoke while talking on the telephone (odds ratio [OR] 0.41: 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.26, 0.64), drin king alcoholic beverages (OR 0.66: 95% CI 0.44, 0.99), after eating (O R 0.55, 95% CI 0.37, 0.81), or at a bar (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.41, 0.94), and a significant predictor of being more likely to smoke at a party ( OR 1.72; 95% CI 1.14, 2.60). Latino ethnicity was a significant predic tor of considering quitting important because of being criticized by f amily (OR 1.93; 95% CI 1.26, 2.98), burning clothes (OR 1.57; 95% CI 1 .02, 2.42), damaging children's health (OR 1.67; 95% CI 1.08, 2.57), b ad breath (OR 2.07; 95% CI 1.40, 3.06), family pressure (OR 1.67; 95% CI 1.10, 2.60), and being a good example to children (OR 1.83; 95% CI 1.21, 2.76). CONCLUSIONS: Differences in attitudes and beliefs about c igarette smoking between Latinos and whites are independent of educati on and number of cigarettes smoked. We recommend that these ethnic dif ferences be incorporated into smoking cessation interventions for Lati no smokers.