Tobacco use among Latinx adolescents: exploring the immigrant paradox

Abstract

BackgroundResearch suggests that an immigrant paradox exists where those who were not born in the United States (1st generation) have significantly better health than those who were born in the U.S. (2nd generation or more). The aim of the current study was to examine the immigrant paradox with respect to tobacco-related perceptions and parenting influences in smoking initiation among Latinx adolescents.MethodsData came from the 7th and 10th grade Healthy Passages™ assessments of Latinx participants in three U.S. urban areas (N = 1536) who were first (18%), second (60%), and third (22%) generation. In addition to demographics, measures included perceived cigarette availability and peer smoking, intentions and willingness to smoke, and general monitoring by parents. Parents reported on generational status and their own tobacco use. The primary outcome was participant’s reported use of cigarettes.ResultsBy 10th grade, 31% of Latinx youth had tried a cigarette, compared to 8% in 7th grade. After controlling for age, gender, and socioeconomic status, regression analyses indicated that there were no significant differences related to generational status in cigarette smoking initiation in either 7th or 10th grade. Youth tobacco-related perceptions, general parental monitoring, and parental tobacco use predicted Latinx adolescent cigarette use initiation by 10th grade.ConclusionsLatinx adolescents might not have deferential smoking rates based on generation status, suggesting that the immigrant paradox concept may not hold for smoking initiation among Latinx adolescents. Rather, factors influencing cigarette initiation generally in adolescents as a group appear to apply to Latinxs as well.

Recent immigration actions and news and the adjustment of U.S. Latino/a adolescents.

“…This paradox, however, does not always generalize to adolescent populations (Teruya & Bazargan-Hejazi, 2013), possibly because healthy migrant selection does not characterize children, whose migration decisions are not self-determined (Shor, Roelfs, & Vang, 2017; Vang, Sigouin, Flenon, & Gagnon, 2017). For example, among a sample of over 1,500 Latino/a students followed from fifth to seventh to 10th grade, researchers found no significant differences in the initiation of cigarette smoking between youth from first-, second-, or third-generation immigrant statuses (Epperson, Wallander, Elliott, & Schuster, 2018). The absence of an immigrant paradox for adolescents also could stem from adolescents’ needs to negotiate hostile contexts of reception in the United States (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001), while simultaneously negotiating developmental processes related to identity, autonomy, risk-taking, and more general cognitive and social maturation.…”