title: Social influences on smoking in middle-aged and older women.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the role of 2 types of social influence--general social support and living with a smoker--on smoking behavior among middle-aged and older women in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study. Participants were postmenopausal women who reported smoking at some time in their lives (N=37,027), who were an average age of 63.3 years at baseline. Analyses used multiple logistic regression and controlled for age, educational level, and ethnicity. In cross-sectional analyses, social support was associated with a lower likelihood and living with a smoker was associated with a higher likelihood of being a current smoker and, among smokers, of being a heavier smoker. Moreover, in prospective analyses among baseline smokers, social support predicted a higher likelihood and living with a smoker predicted a lower likelihood of smoking cessation 1-year later. Further, in prospective analyses among former smokers who were not smoking at baseline, social support predicted a lower likelihood and living with a smoker predicted a higher likelihood of smoking relapse 1-year later. Overall, the present results indicate that social influences are important correlates of smoking status, smoking level, smoking cessation, and smoking relapse among middle-aged and older women.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA. holahan@psy.utexas.edu
authors: Charles J
authors: CJ
authors: Holahan
authors: Rebecca J
authors: RJ
authors: North
authors: Carole K
authors: CK
authors: Holahan
authors: Rashelle B
authors: RB
authors: Hayes
authors: Daniel A
authors: DA
authors: Powers
authors: Judith K
authors: JK
authors: Ockene
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012008:Recurrence; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*; D012932:Social Facilitation; D012944:Social Support; D013223:Statistics as Topic