Esmeralda Iniguez, BS¹, Adriana Villasenor², Jeanette Candelaria, MPH³, and John Elder, PhD, MPH³. (1) Center for Behavioral and Community Health Studies, San Diego State University/University of California San Diego, 9245 Sky Park Court, Ste 221, San Diego, CA 92123, (619) 594-2050, esiniguez@yahoo.com, (2) Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, 9245 Sky Park Court, Ste. 221, San Diego, CA 92123, (3) Center for Behavioral and Community Health Studies, San Diego State University, 9245 Sky Park Court, Ste. 221, San Diego, CA 92123

Clean indoor policies offer a promising method for limiting ETS exposure and promoting smoking cessation. Home based rules setting and enforcement as well as the avoidance of ETS compromise an important “new frontier” for ETS restrictions, especially in diverse communities. The present cross-sectional study was conducted to collect information on peoples’ attitudes and rules regarding tobacco smoke inside their homes, automobiles, and in outdoor public places. Of primary interest were differences between ethnicities (Latino, Asian and White), with respect to implementation of household and other smoking related rules. Data for this analysis were derived from face-to-face interviews conducted at ten different sites in San Diego, CA. Survey administration was done by trained interviewers who interviewed participants as they exited businesses and grocery stores amongst other sites. Initial analysis showed that being born in the US (OR=3.02, CI:1.20-7.63), not having smoked 100 cigarettes during lifetime (OR=3.17, CI:1.47-8.80), not living with somebody that smokes (OR=7.19,CI:2.80-18.40) were all predictive of having no-smoking rules inside the home. Indoor smoking rules were highly prevalent for all three ethnicities. Nonetheless, Latinos were generally more likely to enforce smoking rules with family and friend smokers than were Whites, who in turn were more assertive than Asian Americans. Latinos were also more likely than Whites to actively avoid being exposed to ETS when outdoors. The present paper also examines differences between ethnicities with regards to smoking related characteristics, household no-smoking rules, avoidance of second hand smoke exposure, and rules regarding smoking inside automobiles.

Learning Objectives:

• Ability to describe differences and similarities in rules regarding indoor smoking amongst Latino, White and Asian households.
• Recognize those variables that are associated with (predictive) of having household no-smoking rules.
• Recognize differences in avoidance of second hand smoke exposure by each of the three ethnicities (White, Asian, Latino).

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.