Study Lifts Haze Over Tobacco Use

The data, compiled by the state Department of Health Services working with other researchers, offered a striking counterpoint to an overall decrease in smoking throughout California.

More than one in four Korean men smoked, the study found, a rate 46% higher than for California men overall. Only half of California's Korean households were smoke-free, compared with about 77% for other California households.

Korean and Chinese women smoked at higher rates the longer they had lived in the United States -- and their chances of smoking also rose as their command of English improved. The opposite was true for Korean and Chinese men.

"For men, English fluency or acculturation can be a factor that can lead to resistance to smoking," said Dr. Moon Chen, a health expert for the UC Davis Cancer Center. "But for women, English fluency or acculturation can be a risk factor for starting smoking."

It's against the social norm in Asia for women to smoke, Chen said, so coming to this country or growing up here encourages them, in some cases, to use tobacco more freely.

In general, the more education or the higher the military rank, the less likely a person was to light up, according to the study. Approximately 30% of the active duty military's junior enlisted men smoked, compared with 2% of senior officers.

Smoking among the military as a whole was higher than average, and Marines had by far the highest tobacco use rate: nearly 27%.

The gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community reported smoking rates of 30.4%, nearly twice the 15.4% rate for the general population. Gay men smoked at twice the rate of other men among the California general population.

"The data for lesbian and bisexual women is even worse," said Larry Bye, vice president of the Field Research Corp., which assisted in the studies, overseen by the Department of Health Services. "Lesbian and bisexual women are smoking at almost three times the rate of women in general."

The findings come two years after a UCLA study also found that gays and lesbians were more likely to smoke than the general population, prompting a push in some gay communities across the country for new anti-smoking campaigns.