Neighborhood residence and cigarette smoking among urban youths: the protective role of prosocial activities.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the association between neighborhood characteristics and cigarette use among adolescents and explored the protective effects of participation in prosocial activities to better understand strengths in adolescents' lives and help identify protective factors for the prevention of adolescent smoking.


METHODS
We interviewed ninth graders who had grade point averages of 3.0 or lower and who were not developmentally disabled. Participants' addresses were geocoded so that interview data could be linked to 1990 US census data on neighborhood characteristics.


RESULTS
Neighborhood disadvantage and the percentage of Black residents in a neighborhood had different effects on cigarette smoking among Black and White adolescents. Living in a neighborhood with a high percentage of Black residents had favorable effects for Blacks but not for Whites. For both groups, a low percentage of Black residents was a risk factor for cigarette use, and risk effects were higher in the more disadvantaged neighborhoods. Involvement in prosocial activities moderated neighborhood risks.


CONCLUSIONS
Neighborhood effects on adolescent cigarette use were contingent upon both contextual and individual characteristics. Participation in prosocial activities had a protective effect among adolescents in high-risk neighborhoods. Engaging adolescents in such activities may help offset the adverse effects of living in a disadvantaged neighborhood.
Xue
Yange
Y
Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-2029, USA. yxue@umich.edu
Zimmerman
Marc A
MA
Caldwell
Cleopatra Howard
CH
D000293:Adolescent; D044383:Black People; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008824:Michigan / Q000453:epidemiology; D010379:Peer Group; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000145:classification*; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044465:White People; D001741:Black or African American