Perceived racial/ethnic discrimination in relation to smoking abstinence expectancies among adult Latinx smokers in the United States

Abstract

IntroductionHispanic/Latinx (hereafter Latinx) individuals in the United States (US) face unique smoking-related health disparities, including limited access to care and health insurance for smoking treatment. Social determinants of health (SDoH) have received increased recognition in their role of smoking behavior and cessation. However, research on SDoH in Latinx smoking populations has been limited. Past research on non-Latinx white individuals has found smoking abstinence expectancies to be an integral cognitive process related to multiple aspects of smoking behavior, and its role has also been understudied in Latinx individuals. Perceived racial/ethnic discrimination is one SDoH, but its role in relation to abstinence expectancies among Latinx smokers has not been explored. Therefore, the present investigation sought to evaluate perceived racial/ethnic discrimination in terms of smoking abstinence expectancies among Latinx smokers living in the US. MethodsParticipants included 338 English-speaking Latinx adult daily cigarette smokers (Mage = 35.5 years; SD = 8.65; age range 18–61; 37.3 % female) recruited nationally throughout the US using Qualtrics Panels. ResultsResults supported statistically significant main effects for perceived racial/ethnic discrimination in relation to increased smoking abstinence expectancies of negative mood, somatic symptoms, harmful consequences, and positive consequences (p’s < 0.001). DiscussionOverall, the results of the present investigation build from a limited body of work on perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and smoking and provide novel evidence of consistent and moderate incremental associations between perceived racial/ethnic discrimination and negative and positive smoking abstinence expectancies among Latinx smokers.