Interaction between ethnicity and smoker type with dependence: A comparison of daily and intermittent African American and Caucasian smokers.

Abstract

Ethnic differences in smoking patterns and dependence have been observed between Caucasian and African American smokers: African Americans who smoke are more likely to be intermittent smokers (ITS), and daily smokers (DS) consume fewer cigarettes yet report more dependence. Participants' (N = 482, 67% Caucasian, 54% ITS) dependence was assessed by primary and secondary dependence subscales of the Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives, the Nicotine Dependence Syndrome Scale, the Hooked on Nicotine Checklist, the Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence, and time to first cigarette after waking. We tested associations with dependence for ethnicity, smoker type, and an Ethnicity × Smoker Type interaction, using multivariable linear regression, with adjustment for age, sex, and education. Additional models adjusted for cigarettes per day and history of daily smoking. There was a significant interaction between ethnicity and smoker type for 5 of 6 measures of dependence (each scale assessed separately), such that African American ITS reported more dependence than Caucasian ITS, whereas dependence did not differ by ethnicity among DS. African American ITS smoked more cigarettes per day and were more likely to have a history of daily smoking than Caucasian ITS; after further adjustments for these differences, there were no significant interactions of ethnicity and smoker type for any measure. Among DS, dependence did not differ by race. African American ITS were more dependent than Caucasian ITS; this difference was explained by higher cigarette consumption and a higher proportion converted from DS to ITS among African Americans versus Caucasians. (PsycINFO Database Record