Smoking acquisition among adolescents and young Latinas The role of socioenvironmental and personal factors Celia Patricia Kaplan a, *, Anna Na Âpoles-Springer a , Susan L. Stewart b , Eliseo J. Pe Ârez-Stable a a Room 335-G, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations, University of California-San Francisco, 3333 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94143-0856, USA b Northern California Cancer Center, Union City, CA, USA Abstract This paper examined the effects of socioenvironmental and personal factors on two stages of the smoking continuum Ð onset of smoking and regular smoking Ð among a sample of 1411 Latina clients, ages 14±24, at two federally funded family planning clinics. The socioenvironmental factors included cultural indicators, smoking behavior of family and peers, and norms. The personal factors were risk-taking behaviors and intention to smoke in the future. Results showed that the indicators associated with experimentation were different than those linked with regular smoking. Socio- environmental factors associated with the transition from never having smoked to trying cigarettes included acculturation, as measured by language and familialism, and peer smoking behavior. Among the personal factors, risk-taking behavior past use of drugs, alcohol, and general risk attitude) and smoking intentions were correlates of experimentation. The transition from experimenter to regular smoker was associated with peer smoking behavior  P < .05) in the socioenvironmental domain and drug use and intention to smoke in the future among the personal factors both P values < .001). Age, years of education, marital status, norms, and parental smoking did not independently predict either of the smoking outcomes. Intention to smoke was the strongest predictor of experimentation OR = 8.3, CI 5.87 ± 11.60) and regular smoking OR = 19.9, CI 12.31 ± 29.21) and could help identify those most likely to benefit from smoking prevention and cessation interventions. D 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Smoking acquisition; Adolescent smoking; Latinas * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-415-502-5601; fax: +1-415-502-8291. E-mail address: ckaplan@itsa.ucsf.edu C.P. Kaplan). Addictive Behaviors 26 2001) 531±550 0306-4603/01/$ ± see front matter D 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0306-460300)00143-X