Minority Stress, Smoking Patterns, and Cessation Attempts: Findings From a Community Sample of Transgender Women in the San Francisco Bay Area.
INTRODUCTION Research has demonstrated associations between reports of minority stressors and smoking behaviors among lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations; however, little is known about how minority stressors are related to smoking behaviors and cessation attempts among transgender women. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the associations between transgender based discrimination and smoking patterns among a sample of transgender women; and (2) to identify barriers to smoking cessation in a sample of transgender women with a history of smoking. METHODS A community sample of 241 transgender women completed a one time survey. Binary and multinomial logistic regression models examined associations between minority stressors and (1) smoking behaviors and (2) cessation attempts. Both models adjusted for income, education, race/ethnicity, recent sex work, HIV status, depression, alcohol use, and current hormone use. RESULTS Overall, 83% of participants indicated that they had smoked a cigarette in the last month. Of these women, 62.3% reported daily smoking and 51.7% reported an unsuccessful quit attempt. Discrimination was positively associated with currently smoking (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01, 1.08) Discrimination was positively associated with unsuccessful cessation (AOR 1.03, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.18) and never attempting (AOR 1.04, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.11) compared to successful cessation. Discrimination was also positively associated with never attempting compared to unsuccessful cessation (AOR 1.01, 95% CI: 1.00, 1.03) CONCLUSIONS Smoking cessation may be driven by unique transgender related minority stressors, such as discrimination. Future research is warranted to address unique stigmatizing contexts when understanding and providing tailored intervention addressing smoking among transgender women.
Nicotine tobacco research official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco