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This article discusses the perceived impact of three pre-conference workshops hosted by the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) Health Equity Network (HEN) on attendees' professional development. The workshops aimed to provide researchers with support and knowledge to address tobacco-related disparities. Feedback from workshop attendees highlighted the workshops' instrumental role in professional development, providing support for tobacco-related scholarship, and fostering collaborations. However, there is a need to increase awareness and attendance at these workshops, particularly among underrepresented researchers. The article suggests targeted efforts and funding to support attendance and create additional opportunities for collaboration. [Extracted from the article]

Background: A well-established gender-differentiated association between acculturation and current smoking exists among Latino adults. There are far fewer studies on the potential influence of acculturation on smoking cessation, and extant findings are mixed.Purpose: Using a multidimensional measure of acculturation, the current study examined the independent and interactive associations of gender and acculturation with smoking cessation among Mexican American smokers engaged in a quit attempt.Methods: Using a latent variable modeling approach to repeated measures analysis, the independent and interaction effects of acculturation in two cultural directions (American and Mexican) were examined for their prospective associations with smoking abstinence. Interactions of acculturation domains with gender were also examined. Acculturation was assessed at baseline and abstinence status was assessed at 3 and 26 weeks post-quit.Results: The interaction of American and Mexican cultural identity was significantly associated with smoking abstinence, such that greater American cultural identity was positively associated with abstinence only among those with high Mexican cultural identity. The interaction of English proficiency with gender was significant such that English proficiency was positively associated with abstinence among men but not women.Conclusions: Findings in the cultural identity domain are consistent with a "benefits of biculturalism" perspective, and may be particularly relevant to the adoption of an American cultural orientation among persons with an already-strong heritage-culture orientation. Findings also replicate a gender-differentiated association between acculturation and cessation. Implications for treatment development and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although mindfulness has been hypothesized to promote health behaviors, no research has examined how dispositional mindfulness might influence the process of smoking cessation.Purpose: The current study investigated dispositional mindfulness, smoking abstinence, and recovery from a lapse among African American smokers.Methods: Participants were 399 African Americans seeking smoking cessation treatment (treatments did not include any components related to mindfulness). Dispositional mindfulness and other psychosocial measures were obtained pre-quit; smoking abstinence was assessed 3, 31 days, and 26 weeks post-quit.Results: Individuals higher in dispositional mindfulness were more likely to quit smoking both initially and over time. Moreover, among individuals who had lapsed at day 3, those higher in mindfulness were more likely to recover abstinence by the later time points. The mindfulness-early abstinence association was mediated by lower negative affect, lower expectancies to regulate affect via smoking, and higher perceived social support.Conclusions: Results suggest that mindfulness might enhance smoking cessation among African American smokers by operating on mechanisms posited by prominent models of addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social cohesion, the self-reported trust and connectedness between neighbors, may affect health behaviors via psychosocial mechanisms. Purpose: Relations between individual perceptions of social cohesion and smoking cessation were examined among 397 Black treatment-seeking smokers. Methods: Continuation ratio logit models examined the relation of social cohesion and biochemically verified continuous smoking abstinence through 6 months post-quit. Indirect effects were examined in single mediator models using a nonparametric bootstrapping procedure. All analyses controlled for sociodemographics, tobacco dependence, and treatment. Results: The total effect of social cohesion on continuous abstinence was non-significant ( β = 0.05, p = 0.10). However, social cohesion was associated with social support, positive affect, negative affect, and stress, which, in turn, were each associated with abstinence in adjusted models ( ps < 0.05). Conclusions: Results suggest that social cohesion may facilitate smoking cessation among Black smokers through desirable effects on psychosocial mechanisms that can result from living in a community with strong interpersonal connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Low socioeconomic status (SES) exacerbates the high rate of smoking relapse in women following childbirth. Purpose: This study examined multiple models of potential mechanisms linking SES and postpartum smoking relapse among women who quit smoking due to pregnancy. Methods: Participants were 251 women enrolled in a randomized clinical trial of a new postpartum smoking relapse prevention intervention. Four models of the prepartum mechanisms linking SES and postpartum smoking relapse were evaluated using a latent variable modeling approach. Results: Each of the hypothesized models were a good fit for the data. As hypothesized, SES indirectly influenced postpartum smoking relapse through increased prepartum negative affect/stress, reduced sense of agency, and increased craving for cigarettes. However, the model that included craving as the sole final pathway between SES and relapse demonstrated superior fit when compared with all other models. Conclusions: Findings have implications for future interventions that aim to reduce postpartum relapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Wisconsin Smoking Withdrawal Scale (WSWS) is a valid and reliable scale among non-Latino Whites but has not been validated for use among other racial/ethnic groups despite increasing use with these populations. The current study examined the structural invariance and predictive equivalency of the WSWS across three racial/ethnic groups. Methods: The WSWS scores of 424 African American, Latino, and White smokers receiving smoking cessation treatment were analyzed in a series of factor analyses and multiple-group analyses. Additionally, hierarchical logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine whether WSWS scores differentially predicted smoking relapse across racial/ethnic groups. These analyses were consistent with a step-down hierarchical regression procedure for examination of test bias. Results: The 7-factor structure of the WSWS was largely confirmed in the current study, with the exception of the removal of two offending items. Evidence of full invariance across race/ethnicity was found in multiple-group analyses. The WSWS total score and subscales measuring anger, anxiety, concentration, and sadness predicted relapse, whereas the hunger, craving, and sleep subscales did not. None of these scales displayed differential predictive ability across race/ethnicity. The WSWS sleep subscale showed a significant interaction with race/ethnicity such that it was a significant predictor of relapse among Whites but not African Americans or Latinos. Conclusions: Overall, the WSWS is similar in structure and predictive of relapse across racial/ethnic groups. Caution should be exercised when using the WSWS sleep subscale with African Americans and Latinos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to characterize the relationship between breast feeding and postpartum smoking abstinence among women who quit smoking due to pregnancy and who were participating in a randomized clinical trial of an intervention designed to prevent postpartum relapse. Methods: A total of 251 women were enrolled in the intervention between 30 and 33 weeks postpartum and were followed through 26 weeks postpartum. Participant characteristics were assessed at the prepartum baseline visit, any breast feeding was assessed at 8 weeks postpartum, and smoking abstinence was assessed at 8 and 26 weeks postpartum. Results: Although 79.1% of participants intended to breast feed, only 40.2% reported breast feeding at 8 weeks postpartum. Characteristics associated with breast feeding at 8 weeks postpartum included Caucasian race/ethnicity, greater education, higher household income, and being married/living with a significant other. Logistic regression analysis indicated that breast feeding at 8 weeks postpartum was significantly associated with smoking abstinence at 8 weeks postpartum, odds ratio (OR) = 7.27 (95% CI = 3.27, 16.13), p < .001. Breast feeding at 8 weeks postpartum was also associated with abstinence at 26 weeks postpartum after controlling for smoking status at 8 weeks postpartum, OR = 2.64 (95% CI = 1.14, 6.10), p = .02. Discussion: Encouraging breast feeding among women who quit smoking due to pregnancy may facilitate postpartum smoking abstinence while increasing adherence to current infant feeding guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Research in smoking is hindered by a lack of validated measures available in languages other than English. Availability of measures in languages other than English is vital to the inclusion of diverse groups in smoking research. To help address this gap, this study attempted to validate a Spanish-language version of the brief Wisconsin Inventory of Smoking Dependence Motives (Brief WISDM). Methods: Data from three independent, diverse samples of Spanish-speaking Latino smokers seeking cessation counseling were utilized. Confirmatory factor analyses of three known structures the Brief WISDM were examined for fit within each sample. A separate analysis was also conducted with the three samples combined. A post-hoc exploratory factor analyses with the combined sample was also conducted. Results: Across 12 confirmatory factor analyses, none of the three structures demonstrated good fit in any of the samples independently or in the combined sample. Across the three samples, high intercorrelations (>.90) were found among the Loss of Control, Craving, Tolerance, and Cue Exposure scales, suggesting great redundancy among these scales. An exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) further supported these high intercorrelations. Some subscales remained intact in the EFA but accounted for little variance. Conclusions: Overall, this study was unable to replicate the structure of a Spanish-language Brief WISDM in three independent samples of smokers. Possible explanations include inadequate translation of the measure and/or true and meaningful differences in the construct of dependence among Spanish-speaking Latino smokers. Both possibilities merit further research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]