The relationship between childhood physical and emotional abuse and smoking cessation among U.S. women and men

Abstract

Childhood maltreatment is associated with increased likelihood of smoking. The purpose of the current investigation was to compare quitting motives, quit attempts, and quit success between U.S. adult smokers with or without childhood maltreatment (physical or emotional abuse), and those with or without serious psychological distress (SPD). We also examined whether SPD mediated associations between childhood maltreatment and all outcomes. We analyzed data from a 2-wave cohort telephone survey of a national U.S. sample of current cigarette smokers (n = 751). We used generalized path modeling to examine associations between maltreatment/SPD and concerns about smoking, motivation to quit, quit attempts, and smoking cessation (among the overall sample and selecting for those who made at least 1 quit attempt between waves; n = 368). Among women, maltreatment and SPD were associated with lower likelihood of quitting as well as making a successful quit attempt. SPD mediated the association between maltreatment and likelihood of successfully quitting. Women with maltreatment also had stronger concerns about smoking and motivation to quit than those without maltreatment, although there were no differences in actual quit attempts made. Neither childhood maltreatment nor SPD was associated with smoking outcomes among men. Findings suggest that female smokers with a history of childhood maltreatment are motivated to quit smoking; however, they may have more difficulty quitting smoking as a result of SPD. (PsycINFO Database Record

Figure 1

Serious psychological distress (SPD) mediated the association between childhood maltreatment and concerns about smoking, among women (n = 442). Estimates calculated using generalized path modeling. OR = odds ratio; b = regression coefficient. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

Figure 2

Serious psychological distress (SPD) mediated the association between childhood maltreatment and tobacco abstinence, among women who made a quit attempt between baseline and follow-up (n = 225). Estimates calculated using generalized path modeling. OR = odds ratio. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.