Compares tobacco use by Vietnamese refugee or immigrant youth with other adolescents. Study participants were about 2,800 public middle- and high-school students who were classified as Vietnamese, African-American, Hispanic, or Caucasian. Items from the 1993 Youth Risk Behavior Survey developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were used to measure tobacco use. Presented in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, the survey instrument addressed current use of cigarettes and other tobacco products in terms of quantity and frequency as well as age of initiation. Among the key findings were that: (1) high-school Vietnamese boys smoked at rates higher than those for non-Vietnamese youth; (2) Vietnamese students who were more acculturated were less likely to be current smokers; and (3) Vietnamese adolescents were the least knowledgeable about the health consequences of smoking. A number of policy recommendations can be based on these findings, including the consideration that programs to reduce adult Southeast Asian tobacco use should also address adolescent smoking. In addition, smoking prevention programs, whether school- or community-based, need to address gender differences in tobacco use, target Vietnamese children before the middle-school years, and recognize the prominence of the cigarette in the social life of Vietnamese men.
