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The purpose of this study is to determine the internal reliability of the Ways of Coping Questionnaire in a sample of African American (AA) women of various smoking behaviors and to establish psychometric properties of the latent subscales revealed in the factor analysis status.
Overview of Smoking in African American Women
African Americans, compared to all other groups, experience significantly more negative health outcomes in the leading causes of death related to cigarette smoking (CDC, 2013). Further, African American women experience an overall higher preventable smoking related death rate among the three leading causes of death: heart disease, lung cancer, and stroke (Ahluwalia, 1996, CDC, 2013). Heart disease is the leading cause of death in African American women. It is estimated that 50% of African American women will die from heart disease or stroke (National Center for Health Statistics, 2010; National Stroke Association, 2014). While the death rates of lung cancer have decreased in African American women, it continues to be the second most common cancer behind breast cancer in African American women (American Cancer Society, 2013). Smoking behaviors intensify each of these life threats and is implicated in other conditions such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes which are related to the leading causes of death (CDC, 2013; Harrell & Gore, 1998; Keil et al., 1993; USDHHS, 1998).
While in recent years there has been a downward trend among African American women starting to smoke, today more African American women place their health and lives at risk by continuing to smoke. It is reported that 20% of African American women who have not completed high school and 9% of those who have graduated college currently smoke (American Lung Association, 2014; CDC, 2013).
African American women smoke fewer cigarettes per day, but the smoking behaviors adopted by African American women place them at higher risk for smoking-related disease. (Ludman, Grothaus, Curry, Graham, & Stout, 2002) African American women smoke cigarettes that are often higher in nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tar content. They tend to take deeper and more frequent puffs or inhalations on each cigarette and retain smoke in the lungs for longer periods (Ahijevych & Gillespie, 1997; Ahijevych, Gillespie, DeMirci, & Jagadeesh, 1996; Ahijevych & Wewers, 1993; Ahluwalia, 1996; Benowitz, 2002; Cooley & Jennings-Dozier,...