Effects of family functioning and self-image on adolescent smoking initiation among Asian-American subgroups.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined differences in smoking prevalence and differences in associations between family functioning, self-image and adolescent smoking behavior among four Asian-American subgroups.


METHODS
Statistical analyses were conducted on responses about their smoking behaviors from 1139 students who self-identified as Chinese-Americans, Filipino-Americans, Korean-Americans, and Vietnamese-Americans.


RESULTS
Significant differences in the prevalence of ever-tried smoking and 30-day smoking were found across subgroups, but there were no overall gender differences. Korean-American adolescents reported the highest lifetime smoking and 30-day smoking rates, followed by Vietnamese- and Filipino-Americans. Chinese-Americans reported the lowest smoking rates. There were also differences in the associations between smoking and family functioning and self-image across the four subgroups. High family functioning was inversely associated with smoking for Chinese- and Korean-American adolescents, but not for Filipino- and Vietnamese-Americans. On the other hand, high self-image was associated with decreased risk of smoking for Filipino- and Vietnamese-Americans, but not for the other two subgroups.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings of this study demonstrate that family functioning and self-image varied across Asian-American subgroups. This suggests the need to understand etiological differences between the groups as well as potential implications for prevention cessation programs.
Weiss
Jie W
JW
Division of Kinesiology, Department of Health Science, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, California 92834, USA. jweiss@fullerton.edu
Garbanati
James A
JA
Tanjasiri
Sora P
SP
Xie
Bin
B
Palmer
Paula H
PH
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology*; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012649:Self Concept; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*