Psychosocial obstacles to smoking cessation attempts among young adult sexual minority women who smoke

摘要

Sexual minority women (SMW; i.e., women who identify their sexuality as lesbian, bisexual, or something other than heterosexual) report greater smoking behaviors than their heterosexual counterparts across all ages. We conducted a multivariable regression to examine the correlates of prior smoking cessation attempts and smoking cessation intentions in a sample of young SMW who smoke (N=338; ages 18–24). Covariates included sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., race/ethnicity, sexual identity, age, urbanity), general (i.e., perceived stress) and sexuality-specific (i.e., internalized homophobia) stressors, as well as smoking attitudes and subjective norms. Bisexual women (OR=1.92, 95% CI: 1.11, 3.31) were more likely than lesbian counterparts to report a prior smoking cessation attempt. Prior cessation attempts were associated with less internalized homophobia (OR=.44, 95% CI: .27, .69) and positive attitudes towards smoking (OR=2.17, 95% CI: 1.27, 3.70). Smoking cessation intentions in the next month were negatively associated with being a daily smoker (β=−.14) and attitudes towards smoking (β=−.19). Based on these findings, we underscore the need to address the risk correlates associated with SMW’s quit attempts and include these in cessation interventions.