Differences in Anti-smoking Beliefs Among Rural Native American and White Parents

Michelle C. Kegler, DrPH
Emory University
R01ES008755

Background: Teen smoking rates vary significantly between racial and ethnic groups. According to data from the CDC in the year 2000, 31.8% of white high school students reported smoking in the past 30 days. Hispanic students were next at 22.6% followed by Asian Americans at 20.6% and African Americans at 16.8%. Data for teen-age smoking in Native Americans are not as readily available, but some studies have indicated the rate is comparable or higher than that of white students. Interestingly, among adults the data are much different. In 2000, 36% of adult Native Americans smoked compared with 24.1% of white adults.

Studies also suggest that there are differences between races in parental "anti­smoking socialization," defined as "factors that could influence children’s expectations regarding the feasibility, acceptability, and consequences of smoking cigarettes." For instance African-American parents have been shown more often than whites to set ground rules regarding tobacco use in children. Although the primary focus of the supporting grant, funded through the NIEHS Community-Based Prevention and Intervention Research Program, was to examine a Native American community’s response to heavy metal contamination, the focus of the study reported here was to examine Native American anti­smoking beliefs and to examine whether rural white and Native American parents had similar beliefs.

Advance: The results show that Native American and white parents were similar in their anti­smoking socialization beliefs with one exception. Native American parents were less likely to believe that "schools are better than parents in teaching children about the dangers of cigarette smoking." Less educated parents were more likely to believe that a policy of strictly forbidding children from smoking results in only making children want to smoke more.

Implications: The study’s findings indicate that methods to promote anti­smoking socialization beliefs of parents with a high school education or less may be important in preventing children from beginning to smoke in low­income rural communities with high smoking rates. Although limited in size and scope, this study provides evidence that future research should focus on methods to increase parental anti­smoking communication of beliefs and whether these methods will result in decreased rates of smoking onset.

Citation: Kegler MC, Malcoe LH. Anti­smoking socialization beliefs among rural Native American and White parents of young children. Health Educ Res. 2005 Apr;20(2):175-84.