Law in practice: Obstacles to smoke-free workplace ordinances in bars serving Asian immigrants
Tamar Antin, Roland Moore, Juliet Lee, Travis Satterlund
Objective. California has been at the forefront of tobacco control, enacting comprehensive legislation prohibiting smoking in all workplaces including bars and nightclubs. Previous research conducted by the authors found that smoking in California bars was significantly associated with patron ethnicity and that bars serving Asian immigrant patrons were rarely smoke-free. To investigate more closely the socio-cultural and contextual factors that might support or inhibit smoking in ethnically-specific California bars, the authors conducted a mixed method project, focusing on bars serving Asian patrons in two California counties.
Design. This study used an ethnographic approach, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods, to investigate factors that might impede the adoption of tobacco control policies in bars. Pairs of observers conducted 150 structured observations in 50 bars serving Asian patrons. They recorded quantitative data on bar smoking behavior and produced qualitative fieldnotes describing their observational experiences. Following the observations, 29 semi-structured interviews were conducted with bar staff, owners, and patrons from the sampled bars to understand reactions to and attitudes about the smoke-free workplace ordinance.
Results. In bars identified as serving predominantly Asian patrons, the majority of patrons were Asian-born males. Themes from the interviews revealed several important socio-cultural and contextual obstacles preventing the adoption of the smoke-free workplace ordinance in bars catering to these patrons. The importance of social relationships, the emphasis on the completion of social transactions, and an aversion to confrontation complicate the implementation of AB 13 in these bars. Business and enforcement issues were also important factors framing their reception of tobacco control policies.
Conclusion. These findings have important implications for understanding cross-cultural differences in the reception of public health policies. Reducing barriers to the adoption of smoke-free workplace ordinances in these settings will require the coordinated involvement of community members, business consortia, and public health officials.
Moderate drinking by young adults: A qualitative study of beverage preference and social context
Tamar Antin, M.J. Paschall, Peter Nygaard
Wine is increasing in popularity among young adults in the United States. Previous research has shown that when young adults consume wine, they typically do so in moderation. This paper reports on the findings of an exploratory study conducted in 2006 that investigated the contexts of wine and other beverage drinking among young adults. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 young adults between the ages of 18-26 from Northern California university communities. Interviews were analyzed using key features of grounded theory to elicit themes about various types of drinking occasions. Implications for prevention and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Acculturation and smoking among a Southeast Asian immigrant community: A mixed method approach for deconstructing acculturation
Tamar M.J. Antin, Rachelle Annechino, Juliet P. Lee, Rob Lipton, Robynn Battle
Language-based acculturation scales are frequently used in public health research to approximate immigrants’ acculturation into a new environment and to compare their level of acculturation to various health behaviors. This paper presents findings from a mixed method study of the intergenerational differences in smoking behaviors among a Southeast Asian community in the San Francisco Bay Area. Qualitative and quantitative findings are compared with acculturation scores separately, resulting in disparate conclusions to be drawn from each analysis. Questions regarding the construct validity of language-based acculturation scales are raised.