Childhood sexual abuse and two stages of cigarette smoking in African-American and European-American young women

Abstract

Objective The aim of the current study was to determine whether the higher rates of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) but lower rates of cigarette smoking in African-American vs. European-American women can be explained in part by a lower magnitude of association between CSA and smoking in African-American women. Methods Data were drawn from a same-sex female twin study of substance use (n=3,521; 14.3% African-American). Cox proportional hazards regression analyses using CSA to predict smoking initiation and progression to regular smoking were conducted separately by race/ethnicity. Co-twin status on the smoking outcome was used to adjust for familial influences on smoking (which may overlap with family-level influences on CSA exposure). Results After adjusting for co-twin status, CSA was associated with smoking initiation in European Americans (hazards ratio (HR)=1.43, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.26–1.62) and with smoking initiation ≤16 in African Americans (HR=1.70, CI: 1.26–2.29). CSA was associated with regular smoking onset ≤15 in European Americans (HR=1.63, CI:1.21–2.18), with no change in HR after adjusting for co-twin status. In the African-American subsample, the HR for CSA was reduced to non-significance after adjusting for co-twin status (from HR=3.30, CI:1.23–8.89 to HR=1.16, CI:0.71–1.92 for regular smoking ≤15). Conclusions CSA is associated with moderate elevation in risk for initiating smoking among African-American and European-American women. By contrast, CSA is associated with elevated risk for (adolescent onset) regular smoking only in European-American women. Furthermore, there is significant overlap between risk conferred by CSA and familial influences on regular smoking in African-American but not European-American women.

The role of DNA methylation in the association between childhood adversity and cardiometabolic disease

“…[93] Other related factors: Many studies have shown that adverse exposures in early life were associated with higher rates of smoking, alcohol and drug consumption. [94, 95] The effects of unfavorable lifestyle due to adversity are difficult to disentangle from the effects of the adversity per se . Therefore, the complex interplay of genetics, lifestyle changes and environment exposures should be considered when designing future studies to disentangle the relationships among childhood adversity, epigenetic changes and cardiometabolic outcomes.…”

Adverse childhood experiences and smoking status in children: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…The details of each database are given in Appendix . After screening the manuscripts, finally, 39 studies (Afifi et al, 2012; Afifi et al, 2020; Alcalá, von Ehrenstein, & Tomiyama, 2016; Bhengu et al, 2020; Blalock et al, 2011; Chang et al, 2019; Chartier, Walker, & Naimark, 2009; Dube et al, 2003; Duke, 2018; Forster et al, 2018; Gonçalves et al, 2016; Grest et al, 2021; Halvaiepour & Nosratabadi, 2022; Hayre, Goulter, & Moretti, 2019; Hughes et al, 2019; Iakunchykova et al, 2015; Joannès, Castagné, & Kelly‐Irving, 2022; Kristman‐Valente, Brown, & Herrenkohl, 2013; Liu et al, 2022; Meadows et al, 2019; Mersky, Topitzes, & Reynolds, 2013; Mills et al, 2014; Mingione et al, 2012; Moss et al, 2020; Mouton et al, 2016; Ofuchi, Zaw, & Thepthien, 2020; Ramiro, Madrid, & Brown, 2010; Rehkopf et al, 2016; Sartor et al, 2016; Taha et al, 2014; Velemínský et al, 2020; Warne et al, 2017; Woo et al, 2019; Wu et al, 2010; Young‐Wolff et al, 2019; Zhang et al, 2020) were included in the meta‐analysis, and three studies (Jun et al, 2008; Langlois et al, 2021; Shin, McDonald, & Conley, 2018) were used in the systematic review and meta‐analysis process. The year of publication of the earliest and last publication included in this analysis was, respectively, 2003 and 2022.…”

A Needed Uniform Criteria for Defining Childhood Sexual Abuse

“…For example, most research that has discussed racial differences among male CSA survivors has been skewed toward White males [14][15]. Older empirical studies that have examined differences in CSA among Whites, African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans ultimately suggest that little difference exists among racial groups [16][17], but more recent studies have found that African-Americans and Latinos collectively are more likely than Whites to report a history of CSA [10,[18][19][20]. In one study, Latinos were more likely than African-Americans to report CSA [21].…”