Study Examines Ethnic Impact on Susceptibility to Smoke

An individual’s attitude toward smoking plays a significant role in whether or not they actually take up the habit. This is especially true for non-smoking Mexican-American adolescents, according to researchers at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

A longitudinal study showed that only 15 percent of those committed to never smoking at the start of the study experimented with cigarettes over three years of follow-up. At the same time, 45 percent of those who were deemed to be susceptible at first went on to experiment.

“Susceptibility to smoking is a measurable characteristic that predicts transition to smoking. Our results suggest that prevention efforts tailored to an adolescent’s susceptibility status may be more effective among Mexican-American youth,” said senior author Anna Wilkinson, Ph.D., assistan

t professor in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Epidemiology.

The authors of this study note that Mexican-American adolescents are more inclined to experiment than other groups. This experimentation is likely to lead to a permanent habit. As a result, it is important to offer an opportunity for early intervention.

Researchers followed 964 Mexican-origin girls and boys ages 11 to 13 from the Houston metro area. The study identified significant predictors of experimentation, which included being male, 13 years old, having low subjective social status, having some positive expectations about smoking, at least one detention and living with someone who smokes.

The authors argue that the results of this study suggest that being susceptible to smoking is not ethnic-specific. Future studies are needed to understand and target risk factors for susceptibility to prevent experimentation. It is also important to understand if the same factors involved in smoking and experimentation lead to drug or alcohol use.