142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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301972
Acculturation and smoking among Asian-Americans in California

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 12:30 PM - 12:50 PM

Monideepa Becerra, DrPH, MPH , Health Science and Human Ecology, California State University, San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA
Patti Herring, PhD, RN , School of Public Health, Department of Health Promotion & Education, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA
Helen Hopp Marshak, PhD, MCHES , School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA
Jim E. Banta Jr., PhD, MPH , School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Objective: Asian-Americans are the fastest growing population in U.S. Addressing this heterogeneous group simply as Asian-Americans has limited the ability to identify high risk groups, especially related to cardiovascular health outcomes. As such, this study evaluated the association between acculturation and current smoking behavior among six Asian-American subgroups in California.

Methods: A secondary analysis of public access 2007, 2009, and 2011 California Health Interview Survey data was conducted.  Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were utilized with being a current smoker as the outcome variable and language spoken at home and generational status as proxy measures of acculturation. Potential covariates during model building included sociodemographic variables, health status, and survey year.

Results: Linguistic acculturation (speaking only English at home versus native language at home) was associated with lower odds of being a current smoker among Japanese (adjusted OR = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.09,0.70).  Among Chinese adults, increasing generation was associated with decreasing odds of smoking (second generation adjusted OR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.19, 0.75; third or more generation adjusted OR = 0.11, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.32).

Conclusion: The findings suggest that the association between acculturation and smoking is specific to certain Asian-American subgroups only. In this case, increasing acculturation was associated with lower smoking among Japanese and Chinese. Promoting health education interventions targeted at newly immigrant subgroups may aid in reducing the current socioeconomic burden of smoking.

Learning Areas:

Epidemiology
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify the potential association between acculturation and smoking behavior among Asian-Americans. Discuss the importance of studies among Asian-American disaggregated by subgroups. Describe the current smoking behavior patterns among Asian-Americans, by subgroup.

Keyword(s): Asian Americans, Immigrant Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have worked as a graduate research assistant for several federally funded projects related to cardiovascular and immigrant health. I conducted my dissertation research on the role of acculturation on cardiovascular health among Asian-American subgroups in addition to serving as principal investigator on two additional projects addressing South Asian health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3227.0: Revealing important health patterns in Asian and Pacific Islander populations using disaggregated data