A 10-year survey of 6,529 California and Oregon students shows that nearly
70 percent of Hispanic youths and more than 60 percent of black youths
had started smoking by age 13, compared with slightly more than half of
white and only 36 percent of Asian teens. (See also http://www.cfah.org/hbns/newsrelease/ethnic3-1-02.cfm.)
Despite their early introduction to cigarettes, fewer black teens became
regular weekly smokers, according to Phyllis Ellickson, Ph.D., and colleagues
at RAND.
“By age 15, about one in five Hispanic and white teens had become
regular smokers, compared with one in 12 Asians and one in 14 African Americans,” Ellickson
and colleagues say.
The trend continued as the teens left school. At age 23, regular smoking
rates among Hispanics and whites were almost 1.7 and 1.5 times higher,
respectively, than those for black young adults.
The outcomes are surprising, say the researchers, because
early smoking usually increases the risk of becoming a regular smoker.
Ellickson and
colleagues’ study bears this out: In general, those who started
smoking by age 14 were six times more likely to be weekly smokers at
age 18 than
those who did not start smoking before high school.
Among black teens, however, early smoking did not significantly raise
the risk of becoming regular smokers by age 18.
The researchers think the explanation may lie in different social influences
that the teens reported in the survey. Compared to white and Hispanic teens,
black teens were more likely to say their parents disapproved of smoking
and, after age 13, were less likely to report having friends who smoked
or approved of smoking.
The findings suggest that reducing pro-smoking pressure
from friends and family “might help weaken the link between early initiation and smoking
escalation,” Ellickson and colleagues say.
