 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
ManSoo Yu, MSW, MA and Arlene Rubin Stiffman, PhD. George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, (314) 432-0187, msy1@gwbmail.wustl.edu
American Indian or Alaska Native adolescents (12-17 years) have the highest cigarette use rates of lifetime among all ethnic groups (SAMHSA, 2002). Research about tobacco use among American Indian youth is needed to establish intervention and prevention plans based on predictors of tobacco use. Data from AIM-HI (American Indian Multisector Help Inquiry) were used to determine the prevalence and environmental predictors of tobacco use among a sample of 401 American Indian adolescents, aged 12 to 19 years, living in Southwestern urban and reservation areas in 2001. The instrument consisted of scales measuring familial environment (family problems and family life stress) and social environment (child abuse, peer misbehavior, and neighborhood/school problems) as well as tobacco use. Approximately 59% of American Indian adolescents in this sample reported tobacco use. Tobacco users had significantly more family problems, peer misbehavior, family life stress, neighborhood/school problems, and child abuse experiences than tobacco non-users. However, a stepwise Logistic regression showed that, after controlling for age and location, family problems and peer behavior problems were the significant environmental factors affecting tobacco use. Our study shows that family problems in the familial environment and peer misbehavior in the social environment should be incorporated into intervention and prevention plans for preventing American Indian youth tobacco use.
Reference Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Office of Applied Studies. (2002). National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 2000 and 2001 in Results From the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Volume II. Technical Appendices and Selected Data Tables. DHHS Pub. No.(SMA) 02-3758. Rockville, MD. Author.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Tobacco, American Indians
Related Web page: gwbweb.wustl.edu/projects/AIMHI/
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: a doctoral student