Childhood sexual abuse and two stages of cigarette smoking in African-American and European-American young women.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The aim of the current study was to determine whether the higher rates of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) but lower rates of cigarette smoking in African-American vs. European-American women can be explained in part by a lower magnitude of association between CSA and smoking in African-American women.

Methods

Data were drawn from a same-sex female twin study of substance use (n=3521; 14.3% African-American). Cox proportional hazards regression analyses using CSA to predict smoking initiation and progression to regular smoking were conducted separately by race/ethnicity. Co-twin status on the smoking outcome was used to adjust for familial influences on smoking (which may overlap with family-level influences on CSA exposure).

Results

After adjusting for co-twin

SUBMITTER: Sartor CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4884509 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature