Report: Latino Kids Who Grow Up with Smokers Twice as Likely to Become Smokers

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Latino kids who grow up in a house with a smoker are twice as likely to become smokers than those who grow up in non-smoking households, according to a new study in the journal Preventive Medicine. 

The findings are based on data from the Hispanic Community Health Study (HCHS/SOL), the largest ongoing study of Hispanics in the United States.

“We know that exposure to cigarette smoking as a child is a risk factor for adult smoking because it’s a learned behavior, and our study results corroborate this theory,” said Dr. Elena Navas-Nacher, a researcher in the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Institute for Minority Health Research and lead author on the paper.

The researchers looked at data collected through questionnaires from 13,231 adults ages 18-74 living in cities with  high Hispanic populations, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and the Bronx, and who identified as being Central American, Mexican, Puerto Rican or from South American background.

The vast majority of participants (73%) had lived in the U. S. for 10 or more years.

The groups with the highest prevalence of household smoking were Cubans (56%) and Puerto Ricans (47%). These groups also had the highest number of adult smokers, Cubans (26%) Puerto Ricans (32%).

According to Navas-Nacher, efforts to reduce exposure to smoking at home among children and adolescents are needed, both in the U.S. and in Latin America.