The combined relations of gender, enculturation, and depressive symptoms with health risk behaviors in Mexican-Americans: a moderated mediation analysis.

Objectives: The present study investigated the relationships of enculturation and depressive symptoms with health risk behavior engagement in Mexican-American college students and examined how these relationships differed by gender. Previous research has noted consistent gender differences in health risk behavior (e.g. alcohol use, substance use, and risky sexual behavior) among Latina/os, and emphasized the role of U.S. acculturation in this difference. Research examining the role of heritage cultural retention (i.e. enculturation), and including the added influence of mental health variables, such as depressive symptoms, is currently lacking. This study sought to address this gap.Design: A large sample (N = 677) of Mexican-American college students from four universities (located in New York, California, Florida, and Texas) completed an online questionnaire assessing health risk behaviors and corresponding variables.Results: We found that males who endorsed more behavioral enculturation and depressive symptoms were more likely to engage in health risk behavior than all others in the sample. Contrary to previous literature, no relationship was found between behavioral enculturation and health risk behavior in females.Conclusion: The current study found behavioral enculturation to be associated with depressive symptoms, and in turn with health risk behaviors among the males in our sample. Additional research will be needed to identify the mechanism underlying the relationship between enculturation and depressive symptoms as well as between depressive symptoms and risky behavior.

Smoking expectancies and health perceptions: An analysis of Hispanic subgroups.

Research suggests different patterns of cigarette smoking behaviors across Hispanic subgroups. However, research examining differences in known cognitive correlates of smoking behavior (e.g., beliefs about smoking and perceived consequences of smoking) is lacking. The purpose of this study was two-fold. First, given the dearth of research examining cigarette smoking across Hispanic subgroups, we sought to replicate previous findings related to disparities in smoking behavior across four subgroups (i.e., Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban American, and Dominican American). Second, we sought to extend previous work by examining Hispanic subgroup differences across a range of smoking-related cognitive factors (i.e., positive and negative beliefs, perceived health risks, and perceived social consequences). This study used data from 1021 Hispanic individuals from four universities in the U.S. (i.e., Texas, California, New York, Florida) in a project funded by the American Legacy Foundation. Results indicated that Cuban Americans reported more current smoking than any other subgroup and the most positive beliefs about smoking, although Puerto Ricans endorsed the fewest negative beliefs about smoking out of all the groups. There were also differences across subgroups on some perceived health risks of smoking (e.g., Cubans were most likely to believe that smoking was a risk factor for diabetes) and perceived social consequences of smoking (e.g., Mexican Americans were less likely to perceive negative social consequences from not smoking). This study underscores the need to account for heterogeneity within the Hispanic population in tobacco research to more effectively inform future research and prevention practices.

Low self-esteem and positive beliefs about smoking: a destructive combination for male college students.

INTRODUCTION: Men exhibit higher rates of smoking relative to women (CDC, 2014). Given the associated health and socio-economic consequences, it would be valuable to explore the psychological factors underlying this variance. We contend that positive beliefs about smoking influence this difference, and that self-esteem moderates these beliefs. METHOD: As part of a multi-institutional collaborative study funded by the American Legacy Foundation, 445 participants who reported being either steady or occasional smokers completed a series of questionnaires assessing their beliefs and behaviors involving smoking as well as several dispositional variables. Moderated mediation was used to test for conditional indirect effects. RESULTS: The total, indirect, and direct effects of gender were significant for individuals with lower, but not higher self-esteem. Males with lower self-esteem exhibited more positive beliefs and smoking behavior than females with lower self-esteem. No differences between males and females with higher self-esteem were observed. CONCLUSION: The gender gap in smoking behavior appears to occur primarily among individuals with lower self-esteem. It is a particularly detrimental risk factor for males, as it is related to higher positive views about smoking and increased tobacco consumption. These results highlight the importance of developing multifaceted gender specific belief-based preventative interventions to address smoking related behaviors.