ManSoo Yu, MSW, MA, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, (314) 432-0187, msy1@wustl.edu

American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents have the highest lifetime tobacco use rates among all ethnic groups. The present study merged problem behavior and social ecological theories to examine how mental health and environmental factors, including culture, were associated with American Indian youth tobacco use. A stratified random sample of 205 reservation and 196 urban American Indian youth (13 through 19 years), living in a Southwestern state was interviewed in 2001 (Data were from the American Indian Multisector Help Inquiry (AIM-HI), a NIDA-funded study). The instrument consisted of scales measuring mental health problems (conduct disorder, depression, alcohol abuse/dependence and substance abuse/dependence), familial environment (family mental health problems and family life stressful events), social environment (peer misbehavior and neighborhood or school problems) and cultural environment (cultural activities and cultural pride) as well as tobacco use. Two-thirds of the reservation youth and half of the urban youth in this sample reported lifetime tobacco use. Logistic regression showed that, when controlling for age and location, a mental health factor (substance abuse/dependence) and environmental factors (e.g., family members' mental health problems and peer misbehavior) were significant predictors of American Indian adolescent tobacco use. Cultural factors and location (reservation vs. urban) were not significant predictors of their tobacco use. Therefore, environmental and mental health factors should be assessed for and incorporated into tobacco use intervention and prevention plans for American Indian youth in both reservation and urban areas.

Learning Objectives:

Session participants will gain knowledge about
• the prevalence, onset age, frequency and amount of tobacco use for urban versus reservation adolescents;
• the relationships between the key theoretical variables (mental health, familial, social and cultural factors) and tobacco use; and
• potentially modifiable risk factors associated with American Indian tobacco use.

Keywords: Tobacco, American Indians

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.