Eating pathology among Black and White smokers

Abstract

Among White smokers, many females use smoking as a weight control strategy. Little is known about the relationship between eating pathology and smoking among Black females, and whether smokers who enroll in treatment differ in eating pathology from smokers who decline treatment. We examined eating pathology among Black and White smokers who enrolled in a smoking cessation treatment and those who declined treatment. Participants were 100 Black and 100 White female smokers (ages 18-65) who completed three measures of eating pathology. After controlling for BMI, Whites reported greater levels of overall eating pathology than Blacks [F(1,195)=4.1; p<0.05]. Treatment enrollers reported greater levels of disinhibited eating [F(1,197)=15.0; p<0.001) and hunger awareness [F(1,197)=5.6, p<0.05] than treatment decliners, but did not differ in bulimic symptoms. Status of treatment enrollment accounted for the most variance in disinhibited eating (7%; p<.001) and hunger awareness (2.9%; p<0.05). Results indicate that overall pathological eating behaviors are greater among White than Black smokers. However, once females seek smoking cessation treatment, these ethnic differences are not apparent.