title: Health issues in the Arab American community. Tobacco use patterns among high school students: do Arab American youth differ?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine tobacco use rates (cigarette, water pipe smoking [WPS] or narghile) in Arab American compared to non-Arab youth.
  
  
  METHODS
  A convenience sample of 2,782 14- to 18-year-old high school students from a midwest community completed a 21-item tobacco use history survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-one percent of the participants were ArA. Grades 9 through 12 were equally represented. Results included 'ever tried cigarettes [narghile]' (20%, 39%); 'smoked cigarettes [narghile] in the past 30 days' (7%, 22%); and 'regular smoking [narghile]' (3%, 15%) for ArA and non-Arab youths, respectively. Each was significantly related to grade and ethnicity. WPS for ArA and non-Arab youths was (38%, 21%); (17%, 11%); and (7%, 5%) for 'ever used,' 'used in the past 30 days,' and 'regular use,' respectively. Grade, ethnicity, and sex were significantly related to WPS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cigarette smoking rates for non-Arab youth were lower than current national youth smoking rates but significantly higher than ArA youth. Rates for ArA youth were much lower than current national reported data. Rates of WPS for US youth, regardless of race or ethnicity, are not known. Findings from this study indicate that both ArA and non-Arab youth are experimenting and using WPS regularly. These results underscore the importance of assessing novel forms of tobacco use, particularly WPS, a growing phenomenon among US youth.
authors.affiliation: Wayne State University College of Nursing, USA.
authors.forename: Linda S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Weglicki
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Templin
authors.forename: Adnan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hammad
authors.forename: Hikmet
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jamil
authors.forename: Sharifa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abou-Mediene
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farroukh
authors.forename: Virginia Hill
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: Rice
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D018912:Arabs; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008877:Middle East / Q000208:ethnology; D012574:Schools; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology