Dispositional Mindfulness Predicts Enhanced Smoking Cessation and Smoking Lapse Recovery.

Background: Although mindfulness has been hypothesized to promote health behaviors, no research has examined how dispositional mindfulness might influence the process of smoking cessation.

Purpose: The current study investigated dispositional mindfulness, smoking abstinence, and recovery from a lapse among African American smokers.

Methods: Participants were 399 African Americans seeking smoking cessation treatment (treatments did not include any components related to mindfulness).

Promoting tobacco cessation and smoke-free workplaces through community outreach partnerships in Puerto Rico.

Background: Puerto Rico (PR) has a lower smoking prevalence than the United States (14.8% vs. 21.

Failure to replicate the structure of a Spanish-language brief Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives across three samples of Latino smokers.

Background: Research in smoking is hindered by a lack of validated measures available in languages other than English. Availability of measures in languages other than English is vital to the inclusion of diverse groups in smoking research. To help address this gap, this study attempted to validate a Spanish-language version of the brief Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives (Brief WISDM).

A cross-lagged path analysis of five intrapersonal determinants of smoking cessation.

Background: Prominent theories of drug use underscore the importance of considering the inter-relationships (e.g., reciprocal relations, indirect effects) of determinants of drug use behavior.

The influence of discrimination on smoking cessation among Latinos.

Background: Although studies have shown a cross-sectional link between discrimination and smoking, the prospective influence of discrimination on smoking cessation has yet to be evaluated. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to determine the influence of everyday and major discrimination on smoking cessation among Latinos making a quit attempt.

Methods: Participants were 190 Spanish speaking smokers of Mexican Heritage recruited from the Houston, TX metropolitan area who participated in the study between 2009 and 2012.

Motivation and Problem Solving (MAPS): Motivationally Based Skills Training for Treating Substance Use.

Over 10 years ago, Baer and colleagues proposed the integration of skills training and motivational strategies for the treatment of substance abuse. Since that time, several studies evaluating the efficacy of such hybrid approaches have been published, but few have been efficacious. Motivation and Problem Solving (MAPS) is a comprehensive, dynamic, and holistic intervention that incorporates empirically supported cognitive behavioral and social cognitive theory-based treatment strategies within an overarching motivational framework, and has been demonstrated to be effective in a randomized clinical trial focused on the prevention of postpartum smoking relapse.

Mechanisms linking socioeconomic disadvantage and BMI in smokers.

Objectives: To evaluate a conceptual model of the psychosocial pathways linking socioeconomic status and body mass index (BMI) among smokers.

Methods: A latent variable modeling approach was used to evaluate the interrelationships among socioeconomic status, perceived neighborhood disadvantage, social support, negative affect, and BMI among smokers recruited from the Houston metropolitan area (N = 424).

Results: A total of 42.

The relation between social cohesion and smoking cessation among Black smokers, and the potential role of psychosocial mediators.

Background: Social cohesion, the self-reported trust and connectedness between neighbors, may affect health behaviors via psychosocial mechanisms.

Purpose: Relations between individual perceptions of social cohesion and smoking cessation were examined among 397 Black treatment-seeking smokers.

Methods: Continuation ratio logit models examined the relation of social cohesion and biochemically verified continuous smoking abstinence through 6 months post-quit.

Associations between indicators of acculturation and tobacco dependence among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers.

The current study utilized regression analyses to explore the relationships among demographic and linguistic indicators of acculturation, gender, and tobacco dependence among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in treatment. Additionally, bootstrapping analyses were used to examine the role of dependence as a mediator of the relationship between indicators of acculturation and cessation. Indicators of time spent in the United States were related to indicators of physical dependence.

Individual- and area-level unemployment influence smoking cessation among African Americans participating in a randomized clinical trial.

African Americans suffer disproportionately from the adverse health consequences of smoking, and also report substantially lower socioeconomic status than Whites and other racial/ethnic groups in the U.S. Although socioeconomic disadvantage is known to have a negative influence on smoking cessation rates and overall health, little is known about the influence of socioeconomic status on smoking cessation specifically among African Americans.

Neighborhood perceptions are associated with tobacco dependence among African American smokers.

Introduction: The animal and human research literatures suggest that deprived environmental conditions may be associated with drug dependence, but the relation of neighborhood perceptions with a multidimensional measure of tobacco dependence has not been previously studied. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between neighborhood perceptions (neighborhood problems and neighborhood vigilance) and tobacco dependence among smokers as measured by the Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives-68 (WISDM).

Methods: Participants were 384 African American smokers (49% men, 80% < $30,000 annual household income) enrolled in a randomized clinical trial of a smoking cessation intervention.

Differential effects of depression on smoking cessation in a diverse sample of smokers in treatment.

Background: Recent cross-sectional evidence suggests that the effect of depression on smoking prevalence and quit ratios differs by race/ethnicity.

Purpose: This study prospectively examined the main and interactive effects of race/ethnicity and depressive symptoms on smoking cessation during a specific quit attempt among smokers receiving cessation treatment.

Methods: Data from a longitudinal study of smokers in treatment were examined using continuation ratio logit modeling.

The efficacy of computer-delivered treatment for smoking cessation.

Background: The current study evaluated the efficacy of an individualized, hand-held computer-delivered treatment (CDT) versus standard treatment (ST) for the maintenance of smoking abstinence following a quit attempt.

Methods: Participants were 303 adult daily smokers randomized to CDT or ST, plus pharmacotherapy. Abstinence though 1 year was examined using logistic random intercept models, a type of generalized linear mixed model regression.

Structural and predictive equivalency of the Wisconsin Smoking Withdrawal Scale across three racial/ethnic groups.

Introduction: The Wisconsin Smoking Withdrawal Scale (WSWS) is a valid and reliable scale among non-Latino Whites but has not been validated for use among other racial/ethnic groups despite increasing use with these populations. The current study examined the structural invariance and predictive equivalency of the WSWS across three racial/ethnic groups.

Methods: The WSWS scores of 424 African American, Latino, and White smokers receiving smoking cessation treatment were analyzed in a series of factor analyses and multiple-group analyses.

Subjective social status predicts long-term smoking abstinence.

Background: The relationship between subjective social status (SSS), a person's perception of his/her relative position in the social hierarchy, and the ability to achieve long-term smoking abstinence during a specific quit attempt is unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between SSS and long-term smoking abstinence among 421 racially/ethnically diverse smokers undergoing a specific quit attempt, as well as the interactive effects of race/ethnicity and sex.

Methods: The main effects and moderated relationships of SSS on biochemically-confirmed, continuous smoking abstinence through 26 weeks post-quit were examined using continuation ratio logit models adjusted for sociodemographics and smoking characteristics.

The effect of tobacco outlet density and proximity on smoking cessation.

Objectives: We examined the influence of tobacco outlet density and residential proximity to tobacco outlets on continuous smoking abstinence 6 months after a quit attempt.

Methods: We used continuation ratio logit models to examine the relationships of tobacco outlet density and tobacco outlet proximity with biochemically verified continuous abstinence across weeks 1, 2, 4, and 26 after quitting among 414 adult smokers from Houston, Texas (33% non-Latino White, 34% non-Latino Black, and 33% Latino). Analyses controlled for age, race/ethnicity, partner status, education, gender, employment status, prequit smoking rate, and the number of years smoked.

Mechanisms linking socioeconomic status to smoking cessation: a structural equation modeling approach.

Objective: Although there has been a socioeconomic gradient in smoking prevalence, cessation, and disease burden for decades, these disparities have become even more pronounced over time. The aim of the current study was to develop and test a conceptual model of the mechanisms linking socioeconomic status (SES) to smoking cessation.

Design: The conceptual model was evaluated using a latent variable modeling approach in a sample of 424 smokers seeking treatment (34% African American; 33% Latino; 33% White).

Subjective social status affects smoking abstinence during acute withdrawal through affective mediators.

Objectives: Direct and mediated associations between subjective social status (SSS), a subjective measure of socio-economic status, and smoking abstinence were examined during the period of acute withdrawal among a diverse sample of 421 smokers (33% Caucasian, 34% African American, 33% Latino) undergoing a quit attempt.

Methods: Logistic regressions examined relations between SSS and abstinence, controlling for socio-demographic variables. Depression, stress, positive affect and negative affect on the quit day were examined as potential affective mediators of the SSS-abstinence association, with and without adjusting for pre-quit mediator scores.

Financial strain and smoking cessation among racially/ethnically diverse smokers.

Objectives: We evaluated the influence of financial strain on smoking cessation among Latino, African American, and Caucasian smokers of predominantly low socioeconomic status.

Methods: Smokers enrolled in a smoking cessation study (N = 424) were followed from 1 week prequit through 26 weeks postquit. We conducted a logistic regression analysis to evaluate the association between baseline financial strain and smoking abstinence at 26 weeks postquit after control for age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational level, annual household income, marital status, number of cigarettes smoked per day, and time to first cigarette of the day.

Acculturative and neighborhood influences on subjective social status among Spanish-speaking Latino immigrant smokers.

Subjective social status (SSS) reflects an individual's perception of her/his relative position in the social hierarchy. However, little is known about culturally-relevant, multilevel predictors of low SSS among low socioeconomic status (SES), minority populations. The goal of this study was to identify individual- and neighborhood-level variables predicting SSS among 297 Spanish-speaking Latino immigrant smokers living in several locations in Texas, with an emphasis on the association of SSS with acculturative and socioeconomic variables.

Acculturation differentially predicts smoking cessation among Latino men and women.

Objectives: The current study examined the influence of gender, acculturation indicators, and their interaction on smoking cessation among Latinos.

Methods: Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the main effects of gender, acculturation indicators, and their interactions on self-reported 7-day abstinence at 12-week follow-up among 271 Latino smokers seeking cessation counseling.

Results: Analyses revealed significant main effects for several acculturation indicators and significant interactions of gender with number of years lived in the United States, proportion of life lived in the United States, and preferred media language (all P values <0.

Pathways between socioeconomic status and modifiable risk factors among African American smokers.

Although socioeconomic status is a major contributing factor to health disparities, the mechanisms through which socioeconomic status influences health remain unclear. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate an a priori conceptual model of the pathways between socioeconomic status and modifiable health risk factors in a sample of 399 African Americans seeking smoking cessation treatment. A latent variable modeling approach was utilized to characterize the interrelationships among socioeconomic status, neighborhood disadvantage, social support, negative affect/perceived stress, and three specific modifiable risk factors (i.

The Smoking Consequences Questionnaire: Factor structure and predictive validity among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in the United States.

Introduction: Much of the existing research on smoking outcome expectancies has been guided by the Smoking Consequences Questionnaire (SCQ ). Although the original version of the SCQ has been modified over time for use in different populations, none of the existing versions have been evaluated for use among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in the United States.

Methods: The present study evaluated the factor structure and predictive validity of the 3 previously validated versions of the SCQ--the original, the SCQ-Adult, and the SCQ-Spanish, which was developed with Spanish-speaking smokers in Spain--among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers in Texas.

Low-level smoking among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers: relationships with demographics, tobacco dependence, withdrawal, and cessation.

Introduction: Although recent research indicates that many Latino smokers are nondaily smokers or daily smokers who smoke at a low level (
Methods: The present study examined the associations of daily smoking level and demographics, tobacco dependence, withdrawal, and abstinence during a specific quit attempt among 280 Spanish-speaking Latino smokers (54% male) who participated in a clinical trial of a telephone counseling intervention. Daily smokers were classified as low-level (1-5 cigarettes/day; n = 81), light (6-10 cigarettes/day; n = 99), or moderate/heavy smokers (> or =11 cigarettes/day; n = 100).

Race/ethnicity and multiple cancer risk factors among individuals seeking smoking cessation treatment.

Smoking in combination with other behavioral risk factors is known to have a negative influence on health, and individuals who smoke typically engage in multiple risk behaviors. However, little is known about the clustering of risk behaviors among smokers of varying race/ethnicity. The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of cancer risk behaviors and to identify predictors of multiple risk behaviors in a racially/ethnically diverse sample of individuals seeking smoking cessation treatment.