Correlates of cigarette smoking among low-income African American women.
OBJECTIVE
This study examines individual and contextual correlates of cigarette smoking in a randomly selected, community-based sample of low-income African American women.


METHODS
The study sample was selected by using a two-stage area probability sample design.


METHODS
Participants were recruited from > 12,000 housing units selected from 39 census tracts in the city of Detroit.


METHODS
Participants for this study include a total of 921 women who completed the baseline assessment of a randomized clinical trial aimed at improving the oral health of African American families.


METHODS
Past month prevalence of cigarette use and number of cigarettes smoked during this period.


RESULTS
Data were analyzed with fixed-effects and multilevel statistics. Social support was the only variable associated, inversely, with current smoking. Self-reported feelings of anger were positively associated, though marginally, with current smoking. Between-neighborhood variance was small, and no neighborhood level variables were associated with cigarette smoking.


CONCLUSIONS
Previously established risk factors did not predict cigarette use in this randomly selected, community-based sample of low-income African American women. Further research is needed to identify risk and protective factors that might be unique to low-income African American populations in order to better inform preventive and cessation interventions.
School of Social Work, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, P.O. Box 1248, 426 Thompson St., Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248, USA. jdelva@umich.edu
Jorge
J
Delva
Marisol
M
Tellez
Tracy L
TL
Finlayson
Kimberlee A
KA
Gretebeck
Kristine
K
Siefert
David R
DR
Williams
Amid I
AI
Ismail
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008824:Michigan; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D011203:Poverty; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D014505:Urban Population