An Integrated Framework for the Analysis of Adolescent Cigarette Smoking in Middle School Latino Youth

Abstract

A framework based on five major theories of health behavior was used to identify the correlates of adolescent cigarette smoking. The framework emphasizes intentions to smoke cigarettes, factors that influence these intentions, and factors that moderate the intention-behavior relationship. Five hundred sixteen randomly selected Latino middle school youth in New York completed self-administered questionnaires. Adolescents reported their intentions to smoke, smoking-related expectancies, normative pressures to smoke, image implications of smoking, emotional reactions to smoking, and self-efficacy with respect to smoking. The framework yielded high levels of association with intentions to smoke. Specific smoking-related emotions, norms, and expectancies were associated with the likelihood of smoking.

Uruguayan secondary school students speak up about tobacco: results from focus group discussions in and around Montevideo

“…Smoking for attention and to look older/as a rite of passage were some of the predominant intrapersonal factors cited by respondents for smoking. These are similar to the factors of coolness and sophistication reported by Latino adolescents in the US (38). These factors are analogous, as they imply a positive reception by peers due to smoking.…”

Tobacco use among Latinx adolescents: exploring the immigrant paradox

“…The association between these tobacco-related cognitive processes reported in middle school (7 th grade) and smoking initiation in high school (10 th grade) supports previous findings that youth who report intentions and willingness to smoke in the future are more likely to initiate smoking [ 27 , 28 ]. Finally, results indicating that perceptions about cigarette availability, peer and parental smoking, and parental general monitoring predicted smoking initiation also supported previous findings among Black, Latinx, and White adolescents [ 29 , 30 ].…”

“…The theory of planned behavior is a widely used theoretical framework for understanding factors associated with smoking initiation among youth [ 20 , 21 ] and links behavior with intentions and perceptions about external influences [ 22 ]. Adolescent tobacco use initiation has been shown to be strongly associated with availability of cigarettes [ 23 ], peer smoking [ 24 , 25 ], parent smoking [ 26 ], parental monitoring [ 27 ], and intentions and willingness to smoke [ 28 – 30 ], with at least one previous study finding that intentions to smoke are associated with smoking among Latinx adolescents [ 30 ]. Further, having friends who smoke cigarettes [ 25 ] is associated with increased smoking intentions, willingness, and future initiation.…”

The Linking Lives Health Education Program: A Randomized Clinical Trial of a Parent-Based Tobacco Use Prevention Program for African American and Latino Youths

“…The parent add-on program was called Raising Smoke-Free Kids and was developed as part of the Linking Lives Health Education Program, which was developed by V. G. R., J. J., and P. D. The theories and formative work that were the basis of the intervention are described elsewhere. 7,9,21 The stand-alone program we chose was the school-based Project Towards No Tobacco Use (TNT), 22 a well-known intervention with considerable efficacy data. 23,24 METHODS African American and Latino mother-adolescent dyads were recruited from 6 middle schools in the Bronx and Harlem communities of New York City.…”