Latinx Individuals Who Smoke Daily with and without a Probable Anxiety Disorder: Differences in Smoking Behavior and Beliefs about Abstinence

Abstract

There is a well-established relation between anxiety psychopathology and smoking in the general population. However, little work focuses on Latinx/Hispanic (hereafter Latinx) persons who smoke from this comorbidity perspective. The present investigation aimed to explore differences among English-speaking Latinx adults who live in the United States (US) and smoke cigarettes with and without a probable anxiety disorder in terms of cigarette dependence, perceived barriers for quitting, severity of problems when quitting, and smoking abstinence expectancies. The sample included 338 adult Latinx daily cigarette smokers (Mage = 35.53 years; SD = 8.65; age range 18–61; 37.3% female) who identified as Latinx and were recruited nationally throughout the US. Results indicated that among Latinx persons who smoke, those with a probable anxiety disorder (compared to those without) were more likely to demonstrate higher levels of cigarette dependence, severity of problems when trying to quit, perceived barriers for quitting, and negative abstinence expectancies after adjusting for key variables linked to smoking and anxiety (e.g., hazardous drinking, education). The current findings are the first to document probable anxiety disorder status as a clinically relevant factor for a wide range of smoking variables and beliefs about abstinence among Latinx persons who smoke.

Evaluating the indirect roles of anxiety and depressive symptoms in the relations between negative emotional reactivity to racial/ethnic stress and cigarette smoking among Hispanic adults who smoke.

“…Past work on the negative mood states and smoking among Hispanic persons has found anxiety states to be associated with smoking cessation outcomes (Shepherd et al, 2022) and abstinence expectancies (Zvolensky, Clausen, et al, 2023), beliefs about quitting (Zvolensky, Shepherd, Clausen, Garey, Kauffman, et al, 2023; Zvolensky, Shepherd, Clausen, Garey, Redmond, Brown, et al, 2023), and challenges in quitting (Zvolensky, Bakhshaie, et al, 2020). Research findings of studies focused on depressive affect and smoking among Hispanic smokers has been less consistent, with mixed evidence for a relation to quitting success (Castro et al, 2011) and smoking status (Bandiera et al, 2015; Berg et al, 2012).…”