Cognitive susceptibility to smoking: Two paths to experimenting among Mexican origin youth

Cognitive susceptibility to smoking, defined as the lack of a firm commitment not to smoke in the future or if offered a cigarette by a friend, begins in childhood and is an early phase in the transition from never to ever smoking. Our objectives were to examine susceptibility to smoking and other psychosocial risk factors for experimentation with cigarettes among Mexican origin adolescents and to determine whether susceptibility status moderates the relationship between established risk factors for experimentation with cigarettes and future experimentation. We examined susceptibility and several psychosocial factors associated with susceptibility as baseline predictors of experimentation after 3 years of follow-up among 964 Mexican origin girls and boys between 11 and 13 years of age from the Houston metropolitan area. Participants were recruited between May 2005 and October 2006 and reported that they had never experimented with cigarettes at baseline. Baseline susceptibility and experimentation rates were 23% and 9%, respectively, whereas the follow-up experimentation rate, among those who had not experimented at baseline, was 22%. Susceptible adolescents at baseline were 2.6 times more likely to have experimented with cigarettes by follow-up. Baseline susceptibility moderated the relationship between experimentation at follow-up and the psychosocial risk factors assessed at baseline. Susceptibility is a valid and strong marker for the transition to experimentation for Mexican origin adolescents. Our results suggest that tailoring primary prevention programs by a youth's susceptibility status may increase the efficacy of prevention efforts among Mexican origin youth.