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Discrimination, Religious Coping, and Tobacco Use Among White, African American, and Mexican American Vocational School Students

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Abstract

This study examined whether religious coping moderates the impact of racial/ethnic discrimination on current (past 30 day) cigarette and cigar/cigarillo use among a racially/ethnically diverse sample of 984 technical/vocational school students (47.1% women; mean age = 25 years). Results indicate that discrimination increased the likelihood of current cigarette use among African American students and current cigar/cigarillo use among white and African American students. Positive religious coping decreased the likelihood of cigarette and cigar/cigarillo smoking for white students only. Negative religious coping increased the likelihood of cigarette use for white students and cigar/cigarillo use for white and African American students. Two 2-way interactions indicate that positive and negative religious coping moderate the discrimination–cigarette smoking relationship for African American and Mexican American students, respectively.

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Correspondence to Alexandra Loukas.

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Horton, K.D., Loukas, A. Discrimination, Religious Coping, and Tobacco Use Among White, African American, and Mexican American Vocational School Students. J Relig Health 52, 169–183 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-011-9462-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-011-9462-z

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