Women and smoking: An interdisciplinary examination of socioeconomic influences

Increased risk for smoking and smoking-related diseases among disadvantaged girls and women is a serious international public health problem. As was noted above, in the U.S. alone 170,000 deaths per year among women are attributable to smoking-related causes. The proportion of those women who are socioeconomically disadvantaged is growing (e.g., U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004). Disadvantaged women on average are least likely to respond to treatment and prevention interventions. Greater scientific understanding of the important social, behavioral, pharmacological, and biological controlling variables involved in this problem are needed if more effective interventions and policies are to be developed. Researchers from a number of different disciplines are studying the problem, but interdisciplinary efforts are lacking. This Supplemental Issue has the potential to enhance recognition of the scope and urgency of the problem, embed the problem in a broader conceptual context, provide new scientific insights into processes underpinning these relationships, and perhaps foster much needed interdisciplinary research on this important topic.