Remote Acculturation and Cigarette Smoking Susceptibility among Youth in Mexico

Abstract

Many adolescents in majority world countries emulate U.S. American culture, which can influence their development. Globalization allows adolescents from majority world countries to learn about U.S. American culture through mass media and the exchange of information via the internet and other forms of communication. As such, youth in Mexico may experience remote acculturation, which can influence their smoking behaviors. We developed and tested a measure of remote acculturation (i.e., orientation to U.S. American and Mexican culture) among adolescents in Mexico and examined the association of remote acculturation with adolescents' smoking-related cognitions. Data came from a school-based survey of 5492 never-smoker, urban adolescents (51% female, M age = 14.07 years). Confirmatory factor analyses supported two latent factors-one for U.S. American and another for Mexican cultural orientation. Structural equation models revealed that stronger Mexican cultural orientation was associated with lower positive smoking-related attitudes, which were related with lower smoking susceptibility. Consistent with research on acculturation among U.S. Hispanic youth, findings indicate that stronger orientation toward U.S. culture may put adolescents in Mexico at risk for cigarette smoking, while greater orientation toward Mexican culture may prevent youth smoking in Mexico. We discuss directions for future research and policymaking strategies to prevent youth smoking in Mexico.

Keywords: Mexico; Remote acculturation; adolescents; cigarette smoking susceptibility.

Figure 1.

Hypothesized model based on the TRA and remote acculturation theory, showing all expected relationships and their predictive valence. We control for age, gender, and social network smoking in all the structural paths.

Figure 2.

Latent Variables for U.S. and Mexican Orientation. *** p <.001

Figure 3.

Results of the SEM with the overall sample (N = 5490). Notes: Dashed lines indicate non-significant paths and bold lines indicate significant paths. We controlled for age, gender, and social network smoking in all the structural paths. *p<.05, **p<.001