Establishing baseline information on cigarette smoking behavior from ethnic-specific groups of Asian American and Pacific Islander youth in Seattle, Washington, 1996-1998.
OBJECTIVE
To gather baseline impressionistic data from Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) teens about their tobacco cigarette smoking behaviors.


METHODS
Twenty six separate focus group interview sessions consisting of youth age 12-19 years, 49% female, and of mixed self-reported smoking status (N=190) were conducted over a three-year period from 1996-1999. Gender stratified groups of Samoans, Mien, Vietnamese, Filipino, Laotian, Chinese, and Cambodians were interviewed employing focus groups.


RESULTS
Content analysis of more than 900 pages of transcripts revealed themes suggesting that, overall, parental authority loomed central in the control of youths' smoking; keen awareness and cynicism of media's role in the proliferation of tobacco products existed; and generally, tobacco regulation was thought needed to protect the health of the more vulnerable members of society.


CONCLUSIONS
The diversity within the broad AAPI category must be respected. This qualitative group interview approach uncovered general hypotheses for further cultural-specific research.
Spigner
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Department of Health Services, Box 357660, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. cspigner@u.washington.edu
Gran-O'Donnell
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D000293:Adolescent; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000208:ethnology / Q000639:trends*; D014861:Washington / Q000453:epidemiology