TY - JOUR
T1 - Women, smoking, and social disadvantage over the life course
T2 - A longitudinal study of African American women
AU - Ensminger, Margaret E.
AU - Smith, Katherine Clegg
AU - Juon, Hee Soon
AU - Pearson, Jennifer L.
AU - Robertson, Judith A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding for this study was provided by NIDA Grant (DA006630) and NIDA Grant (DA022366); the funder had no further role in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the paper for publication.
PY - 2009/10/1
Y1 - 2009/10/1
N2 - We compare life course characteristics of a cohort of African American women (N = 457) by their smoking status at age 42: never smoker (34.1%), former smoker (27.8%), or current smoker (38.1%). The Woodlawn population from which our sample is drawn has been followed from first grade (1966-67) to mid adulthood (2002-3) and is a cohort of children from a disadvantaged Chicago community. Examination of the effects of cumulative disadvantage on smoking behavior showed that nearly half of women who first lived in poverty as children, dropped out of school, became teen mothers, and were poor as young adults currently smoked; less than 22% of women with none of these difficulties were current smokers. Regression analyses focusing on smoking and evidence of social disadvantage in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood showed that women with more education were much less likely to be current smokers. Women reporting low parental supervision in adolescence and less frequent church attendance in young adulthood and those whose mothers' reported regular smoking were significantly more likely to be current smokers. Poverty and marital status in young adulthood varied significantly among smoking categories in bivariate relationships, but not in final multivariate regression models. Few other studies have examined smoking careers with data from age 6-42, comparing social disadvantage characteristics over the life course. While marital status, church involvement and parental supervision are not usually included as measures of socioeconomic status, they represent advantages in terms of social capital and should be considered mechanisms for transmitting disparities.
AB - We compare life course characteristics of a cohort of African American women (N = 457) by their smoking status at age 42: never smoker (34.1%), former smoker (27.8%), or current smoker (38.1%). The Woodlawn population from which our sample is drawn has been followed from first grade (1966-67) to mid adulthood (2002-3) and is a cohort of children from a disadvantaged Chicago community. Examination of the effects of cumulative disadvantage on smoking behavior showed that nearly half of women who first lived in poverty as children, dropped out of school, became teen mothers, and were poor as young adults currently smoked; less than 22% of women with none of these difficulties were current smokers. Regression analyses focusing on smoking and evidence of social disadvantage in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood showed that women with more education were much less likely to be current smokers. Women reporting low parental supervision in adolescence and less frequent church attendance in young adulthood and those whose mothers' reported regular smoking were significantly more likely to be current smokers. Poverty and marital status in young adulthood varied significantly among smoking categories in bivariate relationships, but not in final multivariate regression models. Few other studies have examined smoking careers with data from age 6-42, comparing social disadvantage characteristics over the life course. While marital status, church involvement and parental supervision are not usually included as measures of socioeconomic status, they represent advantages in terms of social capital and should be considered mechanisms for transmitting disparities.
KW - African Americans
KW - Life course
KW - Longitudinal study
KW - SES
KW - Smoking
KW - Social disadvantage
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U2 - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2009.06.004
DO - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2009.06.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 19616387
AN - SCOPUS:68849088738
SN - 0376-8716
VL - 104
SP - S34-S41
JO - Drug and alcohol dependence
JF - Drug and alcohol dependence
IS - SUPPL. 1
ER -