Correlates of cigarette smoking among Korean American adults in Alameda County, California.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the prevalence of cigarette smoking and to determine the sociodemographic correlates of smoking among Korean American adults in Alameda County, California, 1994-1995.


METHODS
Korean surname-based telephone survey; contingency table and multinomial logistic regression analyses.


RESULTS
Almost 39% of Korean American men and 6% of Korean American women were current smokers. Among Korean American men those who attended religious activities less than monthly had nearly three times the odds of being current smokers, and those who did not speak English well had 2 1/2 times the odds of being current smokers as compared to never smokers. Those 18 to 24 years of age had more than 8 1/2 times the odds, and those who attended religious activities less than monthly had more than 3 1/2 times the odds of being current smokers as compared to former smokers. Among Korean American women those who were not married had more than 3 times the odds of being current smokers, and those who attended religious activities less than monthly had 22 times the odds of being current smokers as compared to never smokers. Those who attended religious activities less than monthly had almost 8 times the odds of being current smokers as compared to former smokers.


CONCLUSIONS
This study increases our understanding about the prevalence and correlates of cigarette smoking among Korean Americans and can contribute to the development of effective smoking cessation and prevention strategies in this understudied population.
Lew
R
R
Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations, Oakland, CA, USA.
Moskowitz
J M
JM
Wismer
B A
BA
Min
K
K
Kang
S H
SH
Chen
A M
AM
Tager
I B
IB
D000328:Adult; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000208:ethnology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000639:trends