LINGUISTIC ACCULTURATION AND GENDER EFFECTS ON SMOKING AMONG HISPANICYOUTH

Background. Hispanic populations have been shown to be at high risk fo r smoking. The complex psychological process of adaptation to a differ ent culture (acculturation) has been linked to smoking among Hispanic adults and adolescents. Although a positive association between accult uration and smoking appears to depend on gender among adults, research with Hispanic adolescents has ignored the moderating effect of gender . Methods. Students in 22 New York: City schools completed self-report questionnaires and provided carbon monoxide breath samples at two ann ual assessments. Sixth and seventh graders who identified themselves a s Hispanics participated in the study (N = 1,295 at baseline; N = 1,03 4 at 1-year follow-up). The questionnaire included items related to sm oking, acculturation, and demographic characteristics. Results. Analys es were conducted to determine the effects of linguistic acculturation and gender on smoking. Girls smoked more frequently than boys at both time points. Being more acculturated was also associated with more sm oking at the two survey assessments. As predicted, adolescent smoking depended on both gender and linguistic acculturation. For girls, but n ot boys, the highly acculturated adolescents smoked more frequently th an either the bilingual or the less acculturated. Conclusions. Based o n these findings, smoking prevention programs designed for Hispanic yo uth may benefit from an emphasis on Hispanic culture. (C) 1998 America n Health Foundation and Academic Press.