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Title: Ethnic Differences in Predictors of Initiation and Persistence of Adolescent Cigarette Smoking in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Griesler, Pamela C.
Kandel, Denise B.
Davies, Mark
Ethnic Differences in Predictors of Initiation and Persistence of Adolescent Cigarette Smoking in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth
Nicotine and Tobacco Research 4,1 (February 2002): 79-93.
Also: http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org/content/4/1/79.abstract
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: Carfax Publishing Company ==> Taylor & Francis
Keyword(s): Adolescent Behavior; Behavior Problems Index (BPI); CESD (Depression Scale); Child Health; Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Cigarette Use (see Smoking); Depression (see also CESD); Educational Aspirations/Expectations; Ethnic Differences; Hispanics; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Parent Supervision/Monitoring; Peers/Peer influence/Peer relations; Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC)

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Aims: To identify and compare predictors of adolescent smoking initiation and persistence among African American, Hispanic and White adolescents in a longitudinal national sample.

Design: The sample includes 1537 mother-child dyads from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). Family, youth, peer and sociodemographic risk and protective factors were analyzed.

Findings: White adolescents reported the highest rates of smoking initiation and persistence; African Americans and Hispanics the lowest. Multivariate analyses revealed mostly common and few ethnic-specific predictors of smoking initiation and persistence. For initiation, maternal current smoking, child age, child problem behavior, and perceived peer pressure to smoke were predictive across ethnic groups; female gender and ineffective parenting were predictive among Whites only. For persistence, child age, child problem behavior and perceived scholastic competence were predictive across ethnic groups; negative mood was predictive among Whites only.

Conclusions: More common than unique factors predict smoking initiation and persistence among adolescents of different ethnicity. However, the power to detect ethnicity-by-predictor interactions with respect to persistence was low. Social factors are more important for smoking initiation, whereas individual factors are more important for persistence, although child problem behaviors are common determinants both of initiation and persistence. With few exceptions, universal anti-smoking interventions should be targeted to youths of different ethnicity. (Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, 2002.)

Bibliography Citation
Griesler, Pamela C., Denise B. Kandel and Mark Davies. "Ethnic Differences in Predictors of Initiation and Persistence of Adolescent Cigarette Smoking in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth ." Nicotine and Tobacco Research 4,1 (February 2002): 79-93.