Similarly, exposure to high levels of stress may lead to smoking selleck chemical relapses among individuals who are trying to quit smoking. National data show that Blacks who initiate smoking have lower cessation rates than Whites and Hispanics (Lee & Kahende, 2007). High levels of stress among Blacks may be one of many factors that contribute to lower success levels for quitting. Our results, in combination with prospective research (Ayyagari & Sindelar, 2010; McKee et al., 2003), suggest that it may be valuable to include stress reduction strategies in future smoking cessation interventions. Of particular benefit may be interventions that address psychological work stress, relationship stress, neighborhood stress, financial stress, and stressful life events, as these stood out as independent predictors of current smoking in a model taking into account the potential clustering of stressors.

Additional research is needed to determine if cessation outcomes can be improved by helping individuals and/or communities address the root causes of stress (i.e., neighborhood safety or financial safety net programs) or by teaching individuals effective coping strategies for stress. Several limitations should be considered when interpreting our results. First, analyses were based on cross-sectional data, and temporality between the experience of stress and smoking cannot be established. Second, psychosocial measures of stress use self-reported information, and individual variability likely exists in the way stressors are perceived and rated.

This may also be a strength, however, given that self-report measures take into account appraisals of stress relevant to understanding the relationship between stress and smoking behaviors. Third, our sample was comprised of middle-aged Blacks from Milwaukee, WI; thus, the generalizability of these Carfilzomib findings to Blacks in nonurban settings, other regions of the country, or other age groups is unknown. Fourth, although our assessment of smoking does not provide information about smoking frequency or duration of cessation, our method is consistent with that of other studies (Chapman et al., 2009). Finally, the validity of some of the stressor measures, especially for African American samples, is not well established: Some domains had relatively low Cronbach��s alphas, suggesting that these measures may not reflect one unidimensional construct or that they do not include the optimal items for capturing this phenomenon among Blacks. Nevertheless, our study advances the research on stress and smoking in two important ways.