Smoking rates for Asian American adolescents are increasing and becoming a major health concern. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of GPA, emotional characteristics of adolescents, friend and parental smoking, and relationship with parents on adolescent smoking behavior.

Logistic regression was used to examine smoking behavior among 1584 Asian American adolescents who participated in Wave I of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

Males who were older, had lower GPA, and lower self-esteem were more likely to smoke cigarettes. Females who had depressive mood were more likely to smoke cigarettes, but self-esteem was not significant. Friends’ smoking (male OR: 1.871; female OR: 2.235) and better relationship with friends (male OR: 1.377; female OR: 1.350) were strongly associated with increased smoking behavior in both genders. Father’s smoking (OR: 1.625) was also associated with an increased likelihood of smoking among males, but mother’s smoking was not. Parental smoking did not influence females’ smoking. Male adolescents who had a poor relationship with their father were more likely to smoke cigarettes, but relationship with mother was not significant. Among females, relationship with parents did not influence smoking behavior.

Among the factors studied, friends’ smoking was the factor most strongly associated with smoking in both male and female adolescents. Poor relationship with father and father’s smoking were associated with increased smoking behavior in male adolescents, but not females. These findings suggest that cultural factors and gender differences must be considered when designing interventions and education for Asian American adolescents.