Depressive symptoms, stress, and weight concerns among African American and European American low-income female smokers.
The relationships between perceived stress, depressive symptoms, concern about weight gain and smoking dependence were examined among 83 European American and 175 African American female smokers bringing children to pediatric clinics serving a low-income population. Among African American women, but not European American women, greater stress and more depressive symptoms predicted greater smoking dependence, and less concern about weight gain predicted greater smoking dependence. Multivariate analyses confirmed the bivariate relationships among stress, depressive symptoms, and smoking dependence among African American women but reduced the relationship between weight concern and smoking dependence. The stronger relationships among stress, depressive symptoms, and smoking dependence among African American women may be indicative of smoking patterns more associated with affect regulation than are the smoking patterns of European American women.
Ludman
Evette J
EJ
Center for Health Studies, Group Health Cooperative, Seattle, Washington 98101, USA. ludman.e@ghc.org
Curry
Susan J
SJ
Grothaus
Louis C
LC
Graham
Elinor
E
Stout
James
J
Lozano
Paula
P
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D011203:Poverty; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D014861:Washington; D015430:Weight Gain; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology