Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Cigarette Smoking, Binge Drinking, Physical Activity, And Diet In 138 Asian American And Pacific Islander Community College Students In Brooklyn, New York

  • Published:
Journal of Community Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Assessment of cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and diet in the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community has been neglected. A questionnaire was used to investigate these health risk behaviors in 466 students at an urban community college and results for the 138 AAPI study participants were compared to the 328 non-Asians. Results for AAPI study participants showed that twenty percent (20.3%) were current cigarette smokers and 7.7% smoked eleven or more cigarettes per day. Ten percent (10.7%) reported binge drinking on one to two days per month and 17.3% reported binge drinking on three or more days per month. With regard to physical activity, 28.8% participated in stretching, 23.6% in strength and toning, 29.4% in moderate exercise, and 25.4% in vigorous exercise. Results indicated that on the day preceding the survey, only 11.9% consumed five or more servings of fruits and vegetables, 88.4% ate no more than two servings of high-fat foods, and 37.6% consumed tofu, soymilk, or other soy food. AAPI study participants were more likely to frequently binge drink (p < .05), less likely to participate in strength and toning exercises (p < .05), and more likely to consume soy foods daily (p < .01) than non-Asian study participants. Recommendations are presented for health promotion program planning.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Chen Jr MS 2000 Healthy People 2010 and its importance and implications for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Asian Am Pac Isl J Health 8:85–112

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Contreras CA 1999 Addressing cardiovascular health in Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders: a background report. Asian Am Pac Isl J Health 7:95–145

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010. 2nd ed. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 2000

  4. Ghosh C 2003 Healthy People 2010 and Asian American/Pacific Islanders: defining a baseline of information. Am J Public Health 93:2093–2098

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. U.S. Bureau of the Census. Population Projections of the United States, by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1995 to 2050. Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1996, Population Characteristics Series P-25, No. 1130

  6. Lin SS, Kelsey JL 2000 Use of race and ethnicity in epidemiologic research: concepts, methodological issues, and suggestions for research. Epidemiol Rev 22:187–199

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. U.S. Department of Health, Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1997 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance: National College Health Risk Behavior Survey – United States, 1995. MMWR 46:1–56

    Google Scholar 

  8. Patterson F, Lerman C, Kaufmann VG, Neuner GA, Audrain-McGovern J 2004 Cigarette smoking practices among American college students: review and future directions. J Am Coll Health 52:203–210

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Johnston LD, O’Malley PM, Bachman JG. Monitoring the Future National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975–2000. Volume 2: College Students and Adults Ages 19–40 (NIH Pub. 01–4925), Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2001

  10. Rigotti N, Lee JE, Wechsler H 2000 U.S. college students’ use of tobacco products: results of a national survey. JAMA 284:699–705

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Spigner C, Gran-O’Donnell S 2001 Establishing baseline information on cigarette smoking behavior from ethnic-specific groups of Asian American and Pacific Islander youth in Seattle, Washington, 1996–1998. Asian Am Pac Isl J Health 9:35–39

    Google Scholar 

  12. Torabi MR, Yang J, Li J 2002 Comparison of tobacco use, knowledge, attitude, and practice among college students in China and the United States. Health Promot Int 17:247–253

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Hsia FN, Spruijt-Metz D 2003 The meanings of smoking among Chinese American and Taiwanese American college students. Nicotine Tob Res 5:837–850

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Centers for Disease Control, Prevention 1997 Behavioral risk factor survey of Korean Americans – Alameda County, California, 1994. MMWR 46:774–777

    Google Scholar 

  15. Pan YL, Dixon Z, Himburg S, Huffman F 1999 Asian students change their eating habits after living in the United States. J Am Diet Assoc 99:54–57

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Weatherspoon AJ, Danko GP, Johnson RC 1994 Alcohol consumption and use norms among Chinese Americans and Korean Americans. J Stud Alcohol 55:203–206

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. O’Hare T 1995 Differences in Asian and white drinking: consumption level, drinking contexts, and expectancies. Addict Behav 20:261–266

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Wall TL, Shea SH, Chan KK, Carr LG 2001 A genetic association with the development of alcohol and other substance use behavior in Asian Americans. J Abnorm Psychol. 10:173–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Luczak SE, Wall TC, Shea SH, Byun SM, Carr LG 2001 Binge drinking in Chinese, Korean, and White college students: genetic and ethnic group differences. Psychol Addict Behav 15:306–309

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Luczak SE, Corbett K, Oh C, Carr LG, Wall TL 2003 Religious influences on heavy episodic drinking in Chinese-American and Korean-American college students. J Stud Alcohol 64:467–471

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Brener ND, Collins JL, Kann L, Warren CW, Williams BI 1995 Reliability of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Am J Epidemiol 141:575–580

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Arliss RM, Biermann CA 2002 Do soy isoflavones lower cholesterol, inhibit atherosclerosis, and play a role in cancer prevention? Holist Nurs Pract 16:40–48

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Wechsler H, Lee JE, Kuo M, Seibring M, Nelson TF, Lee H 2002 Trends in college binge drinking during a period of increased prevention efforts: Findings from 4 Harvard School of Public Health college alcohol study surveys: 1993–2001. J Am Coll Health 50:203–217

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Goodhart FW, Lederman LC, Stewart LP, Laitman L 2003 Binge drinking: not the word of choice. J Am Coll Health 52:44–46

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. SPSS Inc 1999 SPSS Base 10.0 Applications Guide. Chicago, IL: SPSS Inc

    Google Scholar 

  26. Glass GV, Stanley JC 1970 Statistical Methods in Education and Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, pp. 106–110

    Google Scholar 

  27. Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York. 2000–2001 Annual Report. Student demographics, back cover

  28. Haberman S, Luffey D 1998 Weighing in college students’ diet and exercise behaviors. J Am Coll Health 46:189–191

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Butler SM, Black DR, Blue CL, Gretebeck RJ 2004 Change in diet, physical activity, and body weight in female college freshman. Am J Health Behav. 28:24–32

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005. U.S. Government Printing Office, 2005, pp. 1–80

  31. Pennington JAT, Douglass JS, Spungen Douglass J 2004 Bowes and Church’s Food Values of Portions Commonly Used. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, pp. 1–452

    Google Scholar 

  32. Lee MM, Lee F, Ladenia SW, Mike R 1994 A semiquantitative dietary history questionnaire for Chinese Americans. Ann Epidemiol 4:188–197

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Keeling RP 2002 Why college health matters. J Am Coll Health 50:261–265

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Collins KM, Dantico M, Shearer NBC, Mossman KL 2004 Heart disease awareness among college students. J Community Health 29:405–420

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by PSC-CUNY grant 64604-00-33. I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Ms. Jenny Yu, Ms. Marjorie Chocolad, and Ms. Sayaka Miyawaki in data collection, Ms. Marjorie Chocolad in data entry, and Ms. Belkis Suazo-Garcia in data analysis. I deeply appreciate the comments of Dr. Lawrence Feigenbaum and Dr. Richard Fox following their careful reading of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Community Health, Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York, 2001 Oriental Boulevard, Mail Code: HEA, Brooklyn, NY, 11235, USA

    Rebecca M. Arliss EdD

Authors
  1. Rebecca M. Arliss EdD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca M. Arliss EdD .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Arliss, R.M. Cigarette Smoking, Binge Drinking, Physical Activity, And Diet In 138 Asian American And Pacific Islander Community College Students In Brooklyn, New York. J Community Health 32, 71–84 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-006-9033-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-006-9033-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation