Acculturation and Adolescent Health: What Su Yeong Kim Reveals About Smoking Among Mexican-Origin Youth

Executive Function, Acculturation and Adolescent Vulnerability: Insights from Su Yeong Kim’s Research


For many youth of immigrant origin in the U.S., daily life involves the dual burden of integrating into U.S. culture (acculturation) while retaining their heritage experiences (enculturation). Acculturation provides opportunities but past research indicates it also increases exposure to risk behaviors (e.g., cigarette smoking).

In a study published in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment, Dr. Su Yeong Kim, and colleagues, examined the balance of cultural integration and found that executive function skills (including inhibitory control, shifting and working memory) can serve as a buffer against the acculturation-related risk factors for smoking, among Mexican-origin adolescents.

From Cultural Adaptation to Everyday Behavior: Study Overview

The study sample comprised 289 adolescents of Mexican descent (aged 14–20, 52% female) primarily from immigrant families living in central Texas. Of the participant sample, 76% were born in the United States and came from low-income families. All participants had a regular habit of translating between English and Spanish for their parents.

Researchers employed a 4-day daily diary methodology to capture — Acculturation (engaging in U.S. cultural practices and values), Enculturation (engaging in Mexican heritage cultural practices and values), and Daily cigarette smoking.


Additionally, standardized behavioral tasks to measure three types of core executive functioning:

  • Inhibitory control

  • Shifting ability

  • Working memory

They also measured and included daily well-being, age, sex, and (when applicable) lifetime smoking history as control variables.

Important Findings: Cultural Influence on Cognitive Control

  • Daily Acculturation Raises Smoking Risk — Only for Youth with Low Executive Function. On days when adolescents reported higher levels of acculturation than their personal level, the association between daily acculturation and smoking increased but only for adolescents with low executive function.

  • Executive Function a Protective Buffer — Teens who had better working memory, shifting, or inhibitory control did not see any association between high-acculturation days and increased smoking risk. In fact, teens with strong working memory sometimes showed the opposite pattern as they had lower odds of smoking.

  • Enculturation Daily Effects- Daily changes in enculturation did not have a significant association with cigarette use; moreover, executive function did not have a moderating effect on this relationship.

Why Is This Important ?

These findings are important for public health, prevention programs, and policy aimed at Latinx youth:

  • Dynamic versus static: Acculturation is not a fixed characteristic as it changes every day. Prevention approaches need to be responsive to this dynamism.

  • Beyond cultural considerations: Executive function is one area of cognition to consider. Strengthening and enhancing inhibition, cognitive flexibility training, and working memory capacity should make it easier for a youth with executive function difficulties to resist smoking-related and culture-driven temptations.

Practical Uses :

For educators, school counseling professionals and community health practitioners:

  • Personalized prevention: In a cultural adaptation context, youth with lower executive function skills should be seen as higher risk.

  • Culturally appropriate skill-building: Self-regulation strategies and avoidances should be taught, relative to self-regulation that is sensitive to heritage culture.

  • Interventions on a daily basis: Provide mobile device reminders or time-sensitive checking to support thinking and decision-making within a cultural context that may be high risk.

Conclusion :

In her work, Dr. Su Yeong Kim examines an interaction between culture and cognition as two important influences on the everyday health behaviours of immigrant origin youth. While greater levels of acculturation result in greater risk of smoking, she notes that evidence has suggested that those youth with executive function skills are immune to the negative consequences of acculturative stress (for example, Mexican-Origin adolescents can adapt to the culture of the United States, while resisting the negative smoking behaviours that often accompany acculturation). Promoting cultural resilience, combined with cognitive competencies, may provide direction in creating healthier futures for immigrant-origin youth.


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