Tobacco Use Patterns From Adolescence to Young Adulthood Among Latinx Youth From Rural Communities

To examine patterns in adolescent and young adult tobacco use, comparing Latinx foreign-born children and children of foreign-born parents (i.e., children of immigrants(COI)) to Latinx US-born children of US-born parents (i.e., children of nonimmigrants,(CONI)) and to CONI White youth who grew up in small and rural towns.

Data were from youth who lived in control communities that participated in a community-randomized trial of the Communities That Care prevention system. We compared Latinx CONI (n = 154) with Latinx COI (n = 316) and with non-Latinx White CONI (n = 918). We examined tobacco use in adolescence (any adolescent use, early onset, and chronic use) and young adulthood (any past-year tobacco use, any daily smoking, any nicotine dependence symptoms) with mixed-effects logistic regressions.

In adolescence, Latinx CONI had a higher prevalence of any and chronic tobacco use relative to Latinx COI, and of any and early onset tobacco use relative to non-Latinx White CONI. In young adulthood, Latinx CONI were more likely to report tobacco use in the past year, any symptoms of nicotine dependence, and daily smoking relative to Latinx COI; and more likely to report daily smoking relative to non-Latinx White CONI. Generation differences in young adult tobacco use were explained by chronic tobacco use in adolescence.

The study suggests targeting chronic tobacco use in adolescence to prevent disparities in tobacco outcomes among Latinx young adults from rural communities.