title: The influence of depressive symptoms on experimental smoking and intention to smoke in a diverse youth sample.
abstract: Numerous studies have shown associations between smoking and depression, but the generalizability of the relationship across ethnic groups remains unknown. The present study assessed the association between depression and smoking intention and experimentation among adolescents from four ethnic groups in the Los Angeles area-Chinese/Chinese American, Latino/Hispanic, Persian/Iranian, and White. Over 800 7th graders in the Los Angeles area completed measures of depressive symptoms, experimentation with smoking, intention to smoke, and sociodemographic covariates. Chinese/Chinese American students had the lowest levels of depressive symptoms, whereas Latinos/Hispanics had the highest levels. Latinos/Hispanics also were the most likely to intend to smoke in the next year and were the most likely to have started experimenting with cigarette smoking. Depressive symptoms were significantly associated with intention to smoke even after controlling for language use acculturation, socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity. The association between depressive symptoms and intention to smoke did not vary significantly across ethnic groups. These results indicate that the association between depressive symptoms and adolescent smoking generalizes across diverse ethnic groups.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-7798, USA. nezami@usc.edu
authors.forename: Elahe
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nezami
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Unger
authors.forename: Sylvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Caitlin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mahaffey
authors.forename: Anamara
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ritt-Olson
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sussman
authors.forename: Selena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nguyen-Michel
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Baezconde-Garbanati
authors.forename: Stan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Azen
authors.forename: C Anderson
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010379:Peer Group; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012907:Smoking / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000208:ethnology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data