Knowledge of and Attitudes Towards Tobacco Control Policies Among California Southeast Asians: A Bi-Generational Study

In recent decades, California has lead the nation in tobacco control efforts, with high taxes on tobacco products and state laws prohibiting, for example, tobacco advertising in various settings, tobacco sales to minors and smoking in workplaces and other public spaces. Currently, California has the second lowest adult and third lowest adolescent smoking rate in the nation. California also has the highest percent of foreign-born residents of any U.S. state. It is unclear to what degree these tobacco control policies are impacting such immigrant groups, particularly the more culturally and linguistically isolated groups. Researchers at the Prevention Research Center in Berkeley have been conducting a study of tobacco norms and practices among two generations of California Southeast Asians. Tobacco control policies in Asia have been weak or nonexistent until very recently, and smoking rates as high as 70% among U.S. Southeast Asians have been reported. We conducted in-depth in-person interviews with 164 respondents aged 15-88 (mean age 37.3). The sample was stratified by smoking status (smoker or nonsmoker) as well as gender and generation in the U.S. (first or second). Interviews were conducted in English, Laotian or Khmer, translated and transcribed for analysis. Preliminary findings indicate that awareness and knowledge of tobacco control policies was high overall among both generations. Attitudes towards these policies, however, varied by generation. The findings indicate that attitudes towards law and control may be as important as access to information in shaping compliance with tobacco control policies, and potential reductions in tobacco use.