Role of cultural values in adolescent smoking

美国正在成为一个多元文化的社会。在南加州等文化多样化的地区，处于不同文化适应阶段的青少年受到同龄人、美国社会和原籍文化的社会影响。来自多个社会的文化价值观相互作用并影响青少年的态度、信仰、价值观和健康行为。其中一些文化价值观可能是青少年吸烟的危险因素，而另一些价值观可能是保护因素。随着美国变得越来越多元，世界各地的其他文化也越来越多地受到美国文化的影响。以前不受西方影响的社会，如中国大陆，现在受到来自美国和其他西方文化的电影、音乐、电视和其他影响。不幸的是，美国的媒体经常描绘青少年从事危险行为，包括吸烟。关于文化价值观如何影响青少年对吸烟的决定，我们知之甚少。更好地了解文化价值观在青少年吸烟方面的作用，可能导致制定预防吸烟的干预措施，教导青少年如何忠于其文化价值观，而不诉诸吸烟等不健康行为。这项跨文化研究将探讨文化价值观在吸烟吸收过程中的作用。本研究将分析两项正在进行的研究的纵向数据：一个是加利福尼亚的多元文化青少年样本，另一个是中国武汉的青少年样本。这两个数据来源都将包括来自七年级学生初始队列的纵向数据，两个数据集都将包括对文化价值观和吸烟行为的评估。本研究将确定哪些文化价值观与这两个国家青少年开始吸烟、偶尔吸烟和/或发展为吸烟的风险相关，并将确定这些关联是跨文化一致的还是文化特异性的。该研究的具体目标是在加利福尼亚和中国武汉正在进行的青少年纵向调查中包括一个多民族文化价值观量表，以及吸烟行为的测量，并进行统计分析，以确定文化价值观如何增加或减少这两组青少年的吸烟风险。

The United States is becoming a multicultural society. In culturally diverse areas such as Southern California, adolescents in varying stages of acculturation are exposed to the social influences of their peers, the U.S. society, and the cultures of origin. Cultural values from multiple societies interact and influence adolescents' attitudes, beliefs, values, and health behaviors. Some of these cultural values may be risk factors for adolescent smoking, and some of these values may be protective factors. As the U.S. becomes increasingly multicultural, other cultures throughout the world also are being increasingly influenced by the U.S. culture. Societies that were previous isolated from Western influences, such as Mainland China, now are exposed to movies, music, television, and other influences from the United States and other Western cultures. Unfortunately, U.S. the media includes frequent portrayals of adolescents engaging in risk behaviors, including smoking. Little is known about how cultural values influence adolescents' decisions about smoking. A better understanding of the role of cultural values in adolescent smoking could lead to the development of smoking prevention interventions to teach adolescents ways to remain true to the values of their cultures without resorting to unhealthy behaviors such as smoking. This cross-cultural study will investigate the role of cultural values in the smoking uptake process. This study will analyze longitudinal data from two ongoing studies: a multicultural sample of adolescents in California, and a sample of Chines adolescents in Wuhan, China. Both of these data sources will include longitudinal data from initial cohorts of 7th-grade students, and both datasets will include assessments of cultural values and smoking behavior, This study will determine which cultural values are associated with the risk of smoking initiation, occasional smoking, and/or progression to established smoking among adolescents in these two countries, and it will determine whether these associations are consistent across cultures or culture-specific. Specific goals of the study are to include a Multi-ethnic Cultural Values Scale, along with measures of smoking behavior, in ongoing longitudinal surveys of adolescents in California and Wuhan, China, and to conduct statistical analyses to determine how cultural values increase or decrease the risk of smoking in these tow groups of adolescents.