Does Proximity to Retailers Influence Alcohol and Tobacco Use Among Latino Adolescents

• Published in: Journal of immigrant and minority health 2010-10, Vol.12 (5), p.626-633
• Main Authors: West, Joshua H, Blumberg, Elaine J, Kelley, Norma J, Hill, Linda, Sipan, Carol L, Schmitz, Katherine E, Ryan, Sherry, Clapp, John D, Hovell, Melbourne F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acculturation; Adolescent; Adolescent Behavior - ethnology; Adolescents; Adult; Alcohol; Alcohol Drinking - ethnology; Alcohol use; Borders; Built environment; California; Commerce; Comparative Law; Control Groups; Cronbach's alpha; Disposable income; Drinking behavior; Drug use; Environmental health; Female; Geographic information systems; GIS; Hispanic Americans; Hispanics; Humans; International & Foreign Law; International boundaries; Latin American people; Latinos; Location; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neighborhoods; Noncitizens; Original Paper; Parents; Patient compliance; Private International Law; Proximity; Public Health; Regression analysis; Residence Characteristics; Retail stores; Retail trade; Risk taking; Schools; Smoking; Smoking - ethnology; Social Conditions; Sociology; Stores; Teenagers; Tobacco; tobacco use; Truancy; Tuberculosis; Underage drinking; United States; Urban environments; Variables; Young Adult; Youth
• ISSN: 1557-1912; 1557-1920
• DOI: 10.1007/s10903-009-9303-2

Despite decades of research surrounding determinants of alcohol and tobacco (A&T) use among adolescents, built environment influences have only recently been explored. This study used ordinal regression on 205 Latino adolescents to explore the influence of the built environment (proximity to A&T retailers) on A&T use, while controlling for recognized social predictors. The sample was 45% foreign-born. A&T use was associated with distance from respondents' home to the nearest A&T retailer (−), acculturation (+), parents' consistent use of contingency management (−), peer use of A&T (+), skipping school (+), attending school in immediate proximity to the US/Mexico border (+), and the interaction between the distance to the nearest retailer and parents' consistent use of contingency management (+). The association between decreasing distance to the nearest A&T retailer and increased A&T use in Latino adolescents reveals an additional risk behavior determinant in the US-Mexico border region.