Correlates of Alcohol Consumption, Cigarette Smoking and Water Pipe Tobacco Use in Arab American College Students

Little is known about patterns of alcohol consumption, cigarette and water-pipe smoking in Arab American college students, nor any related socio-demographic and cultural factors. Alcohol, cigarette and water-pipe smoking rates were examined, in addition to demographic and cultural factors associated with use. The participants (n=126) were Arab American college students (M age=21, SD= 2.12; 64% female; 52% Christian and 48% Muslim) from a large urban university in the Midwest. . A comprehensive survey assessed religious affiliation, religiosity, acculturation, ethnic identity, alcohol and tobacco use. 29.4% of respondents reported that they currently engaged in alcohol consumption, 13.5% reported engaging in water-pipe smoking, and 8.7% reported current cigarette use. Being Christian (r=-.42, p≤.001) was associated with alcohol use. While being male (r=.33, p≤.001) was associated with water-pipe smoking and being born in the United States was associated with cigarette smoking (r=-.22, p≤.05). Consuming alcohol was associated with cigarette smoking (r=.32, p≤.001). However, neither cigarette smoking nor alcohol consumption, was associated with water-pipe tobacco use. Having an affinity towards mainstream American culture was associated with being more likely to consume alcohol (r=-.23, p≤.01) and marginally related to being less likely to smoke a water pipe (r=.15, p≤.10). Reporting higher levels of private religiosity was associated with being less likely to consume alcohol (r=.29, p≤.01). However public religiosity and ethnic identity were not associated with alcohol, cigarette or water pipe use. The final presentation will include structural equation modeling to estimate the relative contribution of each of these factors to alcohol and tobacco use.