Wilkinson et al. BMC Public Health 2012, 12:332 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/12/332 Table 4 Logistic regression for cigarette experimentation by acculturation Demographic factors Age Country of Birth Gender Parental Education Sensation seeking subscales Thrill & Adventure Seeking Social Disinhibition Drug & Alcohol Attitudes 1.06–1.88 0.65–2.21 1.19–4.44 0.47–1.21 0.89–1.14 1.06–1.59 1.05–1.61 0.020 0.567 0.013 0.243 0.914 0.011 0.016 Lowest acculturation N = 388 OR 95% CI p-value Medium acculturation N = 429 OR 95% CI p-value Highest acculturation N = 309 OR 95% CI p-value 1.52–2.62 0.92–3.29 1.12–3.37 0.58–1.14 0.96–1.17 0.95–1.37 1.39–1.98 <0.001 0.087 0.018 0.232 0.256 0.113 <0.001 Lowest acculturation N = 338 OR 95% CI p-value Medium acculturation N = 429 OR 95% CI p-value Highest acculturation N = 309 OR 95% CI p-value Note: Female served as the reference category for gender. Born in Mexico served as the reference category for country of birth. Age was entered as a continuous variable. The highest level of education served as the reference category for parental educational attainment. 0.67–1.07 0.49–1.38 1.13–2.94 0.76–1.36 0.94–1.11 0.94–1.28 0.77–1.09 0.158 0.457 0.013 0.914 0.659 0.244 0.313 0.80–1.32 0.52–2.48 0.83–2.36 0.83–1.48 1.00–1.21 0.99–1.40 0.81–1.11 0.820 0.755 0.212 0.508 0.051 0.072 0.532 1.41 1.20 2.30 0.76 1.01 1.30 1.30 0.95 0.86 2.38 1.23 1.18 0.95 0.96 1.99 1.74 1.95 0.81 1.06 1.14 1.66 0.85 0.82 1.82 1.02 1.02 1.10 0.92 Table 5 Logistic regression for physical activity by acculturation Demographic factors Age Country of Birth Gender Parental Education Sensation seeking subscales Thrill & Adventure Seeking Social Disinhibition Drug & Alcohol Attitudes 0.75–1.21 0.52–1.41 1.40–4.05 0.87–174 1.07–1.31 0.81–1.13 0.79–1.18 0.661 0.545 0.001 0.248 0.001 0.568 0.713 Note: Female served as the reference category for gender. Born in Mexico served as the reference category for country of birth. Age was entered as a continuous variable. The highest level of education served as the reference category for parental educational attainment. cigarettes and of being physically active were the same for both genders. With regards to cigarette use among Hispanic adolescents, researchers have reported negative associations between increased acculturation [13,31], bi-cultural stress [32], as well as experiences of discrimination and cigarette use [33], but that enculturation – that is, identification with one’s culture of origin, is theorized to have protective influences on smoking behavior among Hispanic youth [34]. The overall low rate of experimenting among girls underscores the possibility that the majority experience more enculturation than acculturation. Moreover, consist- ent with our findings, several researchers have noted that the relationship between acculturation and smoking related behavior is stronger among girls and women compared to boys and men [20,21,35]. These results suggest that although additional research is needed to assess potential protective benefits associated with identification with Mexican culture and to understand how the acculturation process varies by gender to impact behavior, gender-specific anti-smoking and pro-exercise messaging might be effective among less acculturated Mexican origin youth. With regards to physical activity, a closer inspection of the data revealed that those in the medium category of lin- guistic acculturation had a lower prevalence of participants meeting physical activity recommendations when compared to the lowest and highest categories of linguistic accultur- ation. Overall many Hispanics in the U.S. are of low SES [36]; Hispanic adolescents of low SES report lower physical activity levels in school [37] and reduced access to safe recreational facilities [38]. In the current study, parental educational attainment is significantly and positively correlated with linguistic acculturation (r = 0.19; p < 0.01; data not shown). Thus it is possible that the higher propor- tion of participants meeting physical activity recommenda- tions among the most acculturated reflects both increased participation in school-based physical activity as well as increased disposable income that is used to gain access to gyms or similar fee-for-access community-based opportun- ities for physical activity. 2.02 1.49 1.44 0.97 1.06 1.00 1.74 1.03 1.13 1.40 1.10 1.10 1.17 0.95 1.45–2.81 0.54–4.12 0.73–2.81 0.67–1.41 0.91–1.16 0.80–1.26 1.43–2.12 Page 8 of 11 <0.001 0.441 0.290 0.890 0.620 0.999 <0.001