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The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among the following perspectives: perception of family disharmony, parent-child relationships, disharmonious family relationships, and adolescent cigarette smoking. Participants from a southeastern university reported about whether they smoke daily, weekly, monthly, never, or no longer smoke. The independent variable was smoking status of participants. Four to eight rating scales served as dependent variables for the three perspectives. Independent groups (smoking status) multivariate analyses of variance with unequal cell sizes were performed on the rating scale measures. Because none of the comparison tests were significant, the results were interpreted to suggest that no association between perception of family disharmony, parent-child relationships, disharmonious family relationships, and adolescent cigarette smoking exists.

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States. While smoking rates have steadily declined among the general population, smoking is becoming increasingly concentrated among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups due to higher initiation and lower cessation rates. This dissertation examines determinants and mechanisms of smoking cessation in the context of the Kick it for Good study (KIG), a community smoking intervention for Boston public housing residents. In the first study, we explored mediators and moderators of the KIG intervention effect on smoking cessation. We did not find any significant mediators for 3-mo cessation outcomes, although there was modest evidence for mediation by self-efficacy to quit at 12-months. We found living with other smokers and perceived stress were moderators of the KIG intervention effect on smoking cessation. In the second study, we examined predictors of attitudes and knowledge of nicotine replacement therapy (aNRT). We found discussing smoking cessation with a healthcare provider and use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) were associated with more positive attitudes and greater knowledge of NRT. The KIG intervention did not impact aNRT outcomes throughout the study period. In the third study, we examined the effect of depression on smoking cessation and whether this effect was moderated by social support. We found smokers with depression classified by the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) were more likely to report smoking abstinence than those without depression. Social support did not moderate the effect of depression on cessation. We also conducted a sensitivity analysis to determine if the cutoff of 10 for the CES-D was valid in this population of low-income and racially/ethnically diverse smokers. We did not find evidence of depression misclassification by the CES-D-10, although there remains the need to validate the scale in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. These findings provide valuable information on how smokers living in Boston public housing were able to achieve smoking abstinence in the context of a cessation intervention. The insights gained from these results may be applied to future intervention studies to help address the disparity in smoking rates among socioeconomically disadvantaged smokers.

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