5.14 Cultural background

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5.1 Introduction

5.2 Stages in the uptake of smoking

5.3 Factors influencing uptake by young people—overview

5.4 Physiological aspects

5.5 Individual personality traits and psychiatric influences

5.6 Intentions, attitudes and beliefs

5.7 The home environment

5.8 The smoking behaviour of peers, and peer attitudes and norms

5.9 The educational environment: achievements, aspirations and 'school connectedness'

5.10 Other drug use

5.11 Accessibility of tobacco products to young smokers

5.12 Affordability of tobacco products

5.13 Opportunity to smoke

5.14 Cultural background

5.15 Tobacco advertising and promotion targeted at young people

5.16 Products and packaging created to appeal to new users

5.17 Factors influencing uptake of smoking later in life

5.18 Uptake—a concluding note

5.19 What is meant by prevention?

5.20 Approaches to youth smoking prevention

5.21 Mass media strategies/campaigns

5.22 Interactive technology and multimedia

5.23 School-based interventions

5.24 Peer influence and education

5.25 Parent/family/home targeted interventions

5.26 Reducing tobacco access and supply

5.27 Reducing product appeal

5.28 Promotion and visibility of tobacco

5.29 Denormalising smoking

5.30 Taxation and pricing of tobacco products

5.31 Harnessing predictors of uptake to prevent smoking

5.32 Preventing smoking in more 'at risk' groups

Acknowledgments

References

5.14.1 Uptake of smoking among children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) environments

Australian research has consistently shown that shown that young people living in households where English is spoken are more likely to smoke than those living in households where a language other than English is the first language.53, 113 Although some groups of adult males speaking a language other than English (LOTE) at home may have a higher prevalence of smoking than English speaking adult males (see Chapter 1, Section 1.8 ); these patterns are not yet apparent in the early years of secondary school (Years 7 and 8).53

Rissel et al82 found that in a Sydney-based group of Year 10 and 11 pupils (aged approximately between 15–17), students from an English speaking background were much more likely to be current regular smokers (27%) than teenagers from Arabic (16%) or Vietnamese or South-East Asian backgrounds (8%). Teenagers from Vietnamese, South-East Asian and Chinese backgrounds were also more likely to report that their families had rules, that they were usually supervised, and that they had lesser amounts of pocket money than other ethnic groups. Each of these factors independently correlates with a lower uptake of smoking (see Section 5.7).

An earlier Sydney-based study by Tang et al also showed that young adolescents (aged 12–13) who spoke a LOTE at home were much less likely to smoke than children with an English speaking background.53 This study found that the greatest influencing factor of uptake of smoking among children speaking a LOTE at home was whether their close friends smoked. The authors speculate that these lower rates may be due to stricter cultural attitudes negative to smoking among adolescents; the possibility that students are more likely to socialise with other children speaking the same LOTE at home and sharing the same cultural attitude, hence reducing likelihood of peer smoking pressures, and/or that tobacco advertising had failed to reach these groups.

Prevention programs targeted to CaLD populations in Australia are discussed in Chapter 7, Section 7.19.8 .

5.14.2 Uptake of smoking among Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders

The prevalence of smoking among Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders is more than twice that of the total Australian population.127 As well as taking up smoking at a greater rate than non-Indigenous children, there is evidence that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children also begin smoking at an earlier age.128

Young Indigenous children report similar influences on uptake of smoking to children everywhere. Being part of a peer group which smokes, smoking among other family members and parents, and having a positive attitude towards smoking are strong indicators of smoking behaviour shared by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.44, 129 Research from Western Australia shows that young Indigenous people are particularly likely to describe overt peer pressure in relation to taking up smoking.54 Smoking may also be an expression of rebellion, a way of risk-taking, a means of offsetting boredom or for stress relief.119 Experimentation with other substances such as alcohol and cannabis also correlates with adoption of smoking.129

The higher prevalence of smoking in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults means that many young Indigenous people live in settings in which smoking is the norm. Added to this, it is likely that factors such as poorer school connectedness and other sociodemographic issues connected with disadvantage contribute to higher rates of uptake.130 Smoking among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and teenagers, including influences on smoking behaviour, are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 8, Section 8.4.