Differences between Latino and non-Latino White smokers in cognitive and behavioral characteristics relevant to smoking cessation Beth C. Bock * , Raymond S. Niaura, Charles J. Neighbors, Rosa Carmona-Barros, Munawar Azam Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, Brown University Medical School and St. Joseph Hospital, United States Abstract Adult smokers were recruited during routine health care visits at primary care clinics located in three urban hospitals and were given a brief intervention and nicotine replacement therapy. Analyses compared bicultural (BC: n =60) or less acculturated (LA: n =138) Latinos and non-Latino White (NL: n =417) participants. Both Latino groups were significantly different from NL subjects in smoking rate and nicotine dependence. However, BC and NL subjects differed significantly from LA subjects in perceived benefits of quitting, perceived risk from smoking, and negative affect smoking. LA subjects had higher cessation rates than either BC or NL groups. Regression analyses showed that nicotine dependence and confidence in quitting predicted cessation at month 6, and acculturation appeared to moderate the relationship between smoking cessation and both confidence in quitting and nicotine dependence. These results provide support for the viability of brief interventions for smoking provided through health care delivery systems. Results also suggest that characteristics previously shown to be predictive of successful cessation in mixed or non-Latino populations may not be equally predictive of cessation across members of diverse populations. D 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Smoking cessation; Acculturation; Latino; Hispanic; Intervention 0306-4603/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2004.08.017 * Corresponding author. Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, Coro Building, 5th Floor, One Hoppin St., Providence, RI 02903, United States. Tel.: +1 401 793 8020; fax: +1 401 793 8078. E-mail address: Beth _ Bock@Brown.edu (B.C. Bock). Addictive Behaviors 30 (2005) 711 –724