Acculturation and cigarette smoking among African American adults.

The relationship between acculturation and cigarette smoking among African Americans was examined with 444 adults. Results revealed that African American smokers were more traditional (less acculturated) than their nonsmoking counterparts, irrespective of gender, and that acculturation was a better predictor of smoking than status variables such as income and education. The prevalence of smoking among traditional African Americans was 33.6% and similar to the national data (33.2%), whereas the prevalence of smoking among acculturated African Americans was 15.3%; 68.49% of African American smokers were highly traditional. These findings suggest that acculturation is a factor in smoking among African Americans and highlight the need for further exploration of the role of acculturation in African American health and health-related behavior.