USC Gets Grant to Study Minority Teen Smoking
Researchers at USC were awarded a $12.8-million grant to study ways to prevent tobacco use among Asian, Pacific Islander and Latino teenagers, the university announced Monday.
The money, provided by the National Cancer Institute, will be used to create a center dedicated to studying ways that culture, immigration and assimilation into U.S. society affect the smoking habits of the teens.
Researchers also will design and test prevention programs and examine the effects of secondhand smoke on young people.
Latinos and people of Asian and Pacific Island extraction are expected to make up about 60% of California’s population by 2025, and to make up 75% of the students in public schools.
Researchers will work with students in 62 middle schools in California, Hawaii and the central China city of Wuhan.
Investigators already have observed that Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian and South American immigrants tend to use less tobacco as they assimilate into U.S. society, but that Chinese and Mexican immigrant teenagers smoke more in America than in their native countries, researchers said in a news release.
Researchers will try to find out why immigrant groups respond differently, the statement said.
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