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. 2022 Apr 7;19(8):4430.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19084430.

Physical and Sociocultural Community-Level Influences on Cigar Smoking among Black Young Adults: An In-Depth Interview Investigation

Aaron Broun  1 , Lilianna Phan  2 , Danielle A Duarte  1 , Aniruddh Ajith  3 , Bambi Jewett  2 , Erin L Mead-Morse  4 , Kelvin Choi  2 , Julia Chen-Sankey  5
Affiliations

Physical and Sociocultural Community-Level Influences on Cigar Smoking among Black Young Adults: An In-Depth Interview Investigation

Aaron Broun et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Black young adults experience disparately high rates of cigar use and its health consequences. Little research has explored community-level influences on cigar smoking in this population, especially concerning product-specific influences and cigar smokers' perceptions. We conducted in-depth interviews with 40 Black young adult (ages 21-29) cigar smokers in the Washington, D.C. area and analyzed themes regarding physical and sociocultural community-level factors perceived to influence cigar use. Themes were further analyzed based on participants' predominant cigar products (cigarillos, large cigars, blunts). Participants reported easy access to affordable cigarillos, widespread cigarillo sales and targeted marketing, norms of cigar and blunt smoking for stress relief, socialization, and cultural participation, and ubiquitous cigar and blunt smoking cues, all of which promoted cigar use in their communities. Future research should further explore how community-level influences contribute to disproportionate cigar use among Black young adults. Our findings suggest that programs and policies addressing physical and sociocultural community-level pro-smoking influences may help mitigate cigar smoking disparities.

Keywords: African American; cigar smoking; community-level risk factors; health disparities; in-depth interviews; qualitative research.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

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