Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Social class discrimination as a predictor of first cigarette use and transition to nicotine use disorder in Black and White youth

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To characterize the association of social class discrimination with the timing of first cigarette use and progression to DSM-IV nicotine dependence (ND) in Black and White youth, examining variation by race, parent vs. youth experiences of discrimination, socioeconomic status (SES), and stage of smoking.

Methods

Data were drawn from 1461 youth (55.2% Black, 44.8% White; 50.2% female) and mothers in a high-risk family study of alcohol use disorder and related conditions. Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were conducted, using youth’s and mother’s social class discrimination to predict first cigarette use and progression to ND, stratifying by race. Interactions between discrimination and SES indicators (parental education and household income) were tested. Adjusted models included psychiatric covariates.

Results

In the adjusted first cigarette use models, neither youth’s nor mother’s social class discrimination was a significant predictor among Black youth, but mother’s discrimination was associated with increased risk [HR = 1.53 (1.18–1.99)] among White youth. In the adjusted ND models, mother’s discrimination was associated with reduced ND risk for Black youth in middle-income families [HR = 0.29 (CI 0.13–0.63)], but neither youth’s nor mother’s discrimination predicted transition to ND among White youth.

Conclusions

The observed race and smoking stage-specific effects suggest that social class discrimination is more impactful on early stages of smoking for White youth and later stages for Black youth. The robustness of links with mother’s discrimination experiences further suggests the importance of considering family-level effects and the need to explore possible mechanisms, such as socialization processes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Miech RA, Johnston LD, O’Malley PM, Bachman JG, Schulenberg JE, Patrick ME (2019) Monitoring the Future:national survey results on drug use, 1975–2018: Secondary school students, vol I. Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

    Google Scholar 

  2. Chou SP, Goldstein RB, Smith SM, Huang B, Ruan WJ, Zhang H, Jung J, Saha TD, Pickering RP, Grant BF (2016) The epidemiology of DSM-5 nicotine use disorder: results from the National epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions-III. J Clin Psychiatry 77(10):1404–1412. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.15m10114

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Ellickson PL, Orlando M, Tucker JS, Klein DJ (2004) From adolescence to young adulthood: racial/ethnic disparities in smoking. Am J Public Health 94(2):293–299. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.94.2.293

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Garrett BE, Dube SR, Winder C, Caraballo RS, Centers for Disease C, Prevention, (2013) Cigarette smoking—United States, 2006–2008 and 2009–2010. MMWR Surveill Summ 62(Suppl 3):81–84

    Google Scholar 

  5. Holford TR, Levy DT, Meza R (2016) Comparison of smoking history patterns among African American and white cohorts in the United States born 1890 to 1990. Nicotine Tob Res 18(Suppl 1):S16-29. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntv274

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Kandel D, Schaffran C, Hu MC, Thomas Y (2011) Age-related differences in cigarette smoking among whites and African-Americans: evidence for the crossover hypothesis. Drug Alcohol Depend 118(2–3):280–287. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2011.04.008

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Haiman CA, Stram DO, Wilkens LR, Pike MC, Kolonel LN, Henderson BE, Le Marchand L (2006) Ethnic and racial differences in the smoking-related risk of lung cancer. N Engl J Med 354(4):333–342. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa033250

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. US Census Bureau (2019) Current Population Survey. 2018 and 2019 Annual Social and Economic Supplements.

  9. de Brey C, Musu L, McFarland J, Wilkinson-Flicker S, Diliberti M, Zhang A, Branstetter C, Wang X (2019) Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic groups 2018 (NCES 2019–038). National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  10. Green MJ, Leyland AH, Sweeting H, Benzeval M (2013) Socioeconomic position and adolescent trajectories in smoking, drinking, and psychiatric distress. J Adolesc Health 53(2):202-208e202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.02.023

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Hanson MD, Chen E (2007) Socioeconomic status and health behaviors in adolescence: a review of the literature. J Behav Med 30(3):263–285. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-007-9098-3

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Hiscock R, Bauld L, Amos A, Fidler JA, Munafo M (2012) Socioeconomic status and smoking: a review. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1248:107–123. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06202.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Scarinci IC, Robinson LA, Alfano CM, Zbikowski SM, Klesges RC (2002) The relationship between socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and cigarette smoking in urban adolescents. Prev Med 34(2):171–178. https://doi.org/10.1006/pmed.2001.0967

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Simons AMW, Koster A, Groffen DAI, Bosma H (2017) Perceived classism and its relation with socioeconomic status, health, health behaviours and perceived inferiority: the Dutch Longitudinal internet studies for the social sciences (LISS) panel. Int J Public Health 62(4):433–440. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-016-0880-2

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Canady RB, Bullen BL, Holzman C, Broman C, Tian Y (2008) Discrimination and symptoms of depression in pregnancy among African American and White women. Women Health Iss 18(4):292–300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2008.04.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Van Dyke ME, Vaccarino V, Quyyumi AA, Lewis TT (2016) Socioeconomic status discrimination is associated with poor sleep in African-Americans, but not Whites. Soc Sci Med 153:141–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.02.012

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Ren XS, Amick BC, Williams DR (1999) Racial/ethnic disparities in health: the interplay between discrimination and socioeconomic status. Ethn Dis 9(2):151–165

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Xie TH, Ahuja M, McCutcheon VV, Bucholz KK (2020) Associations between racial and socioeconomic discrimination and risk behaviors among African-American adolescents and young adults: a latent class analysis. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 55(11):1479–1489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01884-y

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Haeny AM, Sartor CE, Arshanapally S, Ahuja M, Werner KB, Bucholz KK (2019) The association between racial and socioeconomic discrimination and two stages of alcohol use in Blacks. Drug Alcohol Depend 199:129–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.02.026

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Lo CC, Cheng TC (2012) Discrimination’s role in minority group’s rates of substance-use disorder. Am J Addict 21(2):150–156. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1521-0391.2011.00205.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Kressin NR, Chang BH, Whittle J, Peterson ED, Clark JA, Rosen AK, Orner M, Collins TC, Alley LG, Petersen LA (2004) Racial differences in cardiac catheterization as a function of patient’s beliefs. Am J Public Health 94(12):2091–2097. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.94.12.2091

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Levin S, Sinclair S, Veniegas RC, Taylor PL (2002) Perceived discrimination in the context of multiple group memberships. Psychol Sci 13(6):557–560. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00498

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Borrell LN, Diez Roux AV, Jacobs DR Jr, Shea S, Jackson SA, Shrager S, Blumenthal RS (2010) Perceived racial/ethnic discrimination, smoking and alcohol consumption in the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis (MESA). Prev Med 51(3–4):307–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2010.05.017

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Purnell JQ, Peppone LJ, Alcaraz K, McQueen A, Guido JJ, Carroll JK, Shacham E, Morrow GR (2012) Perceived discrimination, psychological distress, and current smoking status: results from the behavioral risk factor surveillance system reactions to race module, 2004–2008. Am J Public Health 102(5):844–851. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300694

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Read UM, Karamanos A, João Silva M, Molaodi OR, Enayat ZE, Cassidy A, Cruickshank JK, Harding S (2018) The influence of racism on cigarette smoking: longitudinal study of young people in a British multiethnic cohort. PLoS ONE 13(1):e0190496. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190496

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Borrell LN, Jacobs DR Jr, Williams DR, Pletcher MJ, Houston TK, Kiefe CI (2007) Self-reported racial discrimination and substance use in the coronary artery risk development in adults study. Am J Epidemiol 166(9):1068–1079. https://doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwm180

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Kendzor DE, Businelle MS, Reitzel LR, Rios DM, Scheuermann TS, Pulvers K, Ahluwalia JS (2013) Everyday discrimination is associated with nicotine dependence among African American, Latino, and White smokers. Nicotine Tob Res 16(6):633–640. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntt198

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  28. Arshanapally S, Werner KB, Sartor CE, Bucholz KK (2017) The association between racial discrimination and suicidality among African-American adolescents and young adults. Arch Suicide Res 22(4):584–595. https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2017.1387207

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Tran AGTT (2014) Family contexts: parental experiences of discrimination and child mental health. Am J Commun Psychol 53(1–2):37–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-013-9607-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. American Psychiatric Association (1994) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV. American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  31. Bucholz KK, Cadoret R, Cloninger CR, Dinwiddie SH, Hesselbrock VM, Nurnberger JI, Reich T, Schmidt I, Schuckit MA (1994) A new, semi-structured psychiatric interview for use in genetic linkage studies: a report of the reliability of the SSAGA. J Stud Alcohol 55:149–158

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Hesselbrock M, Easton C, Bucholz KK, Schuckit MA, Hesselbrock VM (1999) A validity study of the SSAGA—a comparison with the SCAN. Addiction 94:1361–1370

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Krieger N, Smith K, Naishadham D, Hartman C, Barbeau EM (2005) Experiences of discrimination: validity and reliability of a self-report measure for population health research on racism and health. Social Sci Med 61(7):1576–1596. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.03.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Sylvestre MP, Hanusaik N, Berger D, Dugas E, Pbert L, Winickoff J, O’Loughlin JL (2018) A tool to identify adolescents at risk of cigarette smoking initiation. Pediatrics 142(5):e20173701. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-3701

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1994) Cigarette smoking among adults—United States, 1992, and changes in the definition of current cigarette smoking. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 43(19):342–346

    Google Scholar 

  36. Imbens GW, Rubin DB (2015) Causal inference for statistics, social, and biomedical sciences: an introduction. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/Cbo9781139025751

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. StataCorp (2009) Stata Statistical Software: Release 11. StataCorp LP, College Station, TX

    Google Scholar 

  38. Grambsch P, Therneau TM (1994) Proportional hazards tests and diagnostics based on weighted residuals. Biometrika 81(3):515–526. https://doi.org/10.1093/biomet/81.3.515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Song M (2014) Challenging a culture of racial equivalence. Br J Sociol 65(1):107–129. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12054

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Woo B (2018) Racial discrimination and mental health in the USA: testing the teverse racism hypothesis. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities 5(4):766–773. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-017-0421-6

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Jones DJ, Loiselle R, Highlander A (2018) Parent-adolescent socialization of social class in low-income White families: theory, research, and future directions. J Res Adolesc 28(3):622–636. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12392

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  42. Thornton MC, Chatters LM, Taylor RJ, Allen WR (1990) Sociodemographic and environmental correlates of racial socialization by Black parents. Child Dev 61(2):401–409. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131101

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Kaiser CR, Major B (2006) A social psychological perspective on perceiving and reporting discrimination. Law Soc Inq 31(4):801–830. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-4469.2006.00036.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. . SAMHSA, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2017 and 2018. https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/reports/rpt23235/2k18SAEExcelTabs/NSDUHsaePercents2018.pdf

  45. Boonn A Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, June 29, 2020. https://www.tobaccofreekids.org/assets/factsheets/0097.pdf

  46. Brondolo E, Brady Ver Halen N, Pencille M, Beatty D, Contrada RJ (2009) Coping with racism: a selective review of the literature and a theoretical and methodological critique. J Behav Med 32(1):64–88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-008-9193-0

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Pascoe EA, Smart Richman L (2009) Perceived discrimination and health: a meta-analytic review. Psychol Bull 135(4):531–554. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016059

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Funding for this study was provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA023549, AA12640) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA019426). We thank all of the research participants and their families for the time they dedicated to this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, 389 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA

    Carolyn E. Sartor & Angela M. Haeny

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO, 63116, USA

    Carolyn E. Sartor & Kathleen K. Bucholz

  3. Department of Health Services Management and Policy, East Tennessee State University, College of Public Health, J1276 Gilbreath Drive, Johnson City, TN, 37614, USA

    Manik Ahuja

Authors
  1. Carolyn E. Sartor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Angela M. Haeny
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Manik Ahuja
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kathleen K. Bucholz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carolyn E. Sartor.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

Informed consent was obtained for participation. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Ethics Board of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 19 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sartor, C.E., Haeny, A.M., Ahuja, M. et al. Social class discrimination as a predictor of first cigarette use and transition to nicotine use disorder in Black and White youth. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 56, 981–992 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01984-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01984-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation