U.S. Immigration Increases Smoking Among Latinos, Asians

U.S. immigration may result in increased smoking in Latino and Asian women, according to recent findings published in the journal Social Science and Medicine.

Researchers found that  gender differences significantly shaped certain aspects of acculturation, including the original decision to migrate.

"We know that after migrants come to the U.S., their health behavior and health status changes the longer they live in the United States," said Bridget Gorman, chair and professor of sociology at Rice and the study's lead author, in a news release. "Our study examined how time spent in the U.S., along with other aspects reflective of acculturation to the U.S., relates to smoking behavior among Asian and Latino migrants."

Researchers studied a sample of 3,249 Asian and Latino migrant adults aged 18 and older. They examined how behavior relates to age at migration, citizenship status and length of time in the United States, along with how frequently they visited their home country and how proficient they were in their native language and English.

Findings showed increased smoking among Asian immigrant men was more than four times higher than that of Asian immigrant women. For Latino immigrants, men's smoking prevalence was also higher at more than twice that of women's. For smoking frequency, Asian men on average smoked 2.5 more cigarettes per day than Asian women, compared with 1.5 more cigarettes per day that Latino men smoked than Latino women.

"immigrants who form strong connections to the U.S. through English-language proficiency and citizenship acquisition benefit in terms of reduced smoking."

Researchers said they believe that certain stresses of adapting to the United States may be to blame for increased smoking. They also noted that although there "tends to be an uptick in unhealthy behaviors like smoking after migration, patterns differ across ethnic groups and between men and women. In particular, women's smoking behavior tends to increase more after migration to the U.S. than men."

This uptick may be due to differences in smoking stigmas that exist for women in other countries but not in America.

The current study found that accounting for gender differences in aspects of acculturation (including time spent in the U.S., citizenship status, and English-language proficiency) explained gender differences in smoking frequency for both Asian and Latino migrants.