Social Factors and Smoking

When trying to determine why a group of people acts a specific way, there are multiple approaches to researching the cause.  While psychologists might examine the mental health, history, or environment of the individuals within the group, sociologists would study the group itself.  They study groups of people who share similar characteristics with each other.  They research a variety of different social factors, which are the influences of groups and the society that influence behavior.  Social factors include the social location of an individual—characteristics that are unique to the person—and social institutions, which are the organizational structure of society.  Examples of categories that make up the social location of a person include gender, race, age, religion, marital status, employment, and other similar traits.  Social institutions are systems such as laws, education, the media, churches, and the economy in a given area. 

In medical sociology specifically, sociologists examine these social factors and how they influence health. 

After reading the example post, I wondered if there was a correlation between race and cigarette smoking, and if there was, exactly what that relationship looked like.  I also wondered what some outcomes (other than purely physical, such as developing lung cancer) of smoking would be.

In a study researching adolescent cigarette use in different races by Fred Pampel, he states that African Americans are much less likely to smoke during their teen years than whites.  However, adult African Americans smoke at a slightly higher rate than white adults.  The National Health Interview Survey in 2005 showed that whites between the ages of 40 and 59 smoked at a rate of 23.8% while 25.9% of African Americans smoke at the same age.  The article claims (and is no doubt correct) that socioeconomic status plays a definite role, with higher rates of smoking occurring with lower education, occupation, and income levels.  In addition, it asserts that people from lower socioeconomic status have a more difficult time with quitting smoking than do those from higher status.  Why?  While people from both groups may have the desire to stop, those from higher socioeconomic status have more resources (money, opportunities for counseling, nicotine replacements) from which they can draw.

This is a table that was included in the study, which I found interesting.  The high rates of white female smoking surprised me, and it would be interesting to learn more about why that part of the population has such a high rate.

While I was doing more research, I found another bit of information that I had not known before: that smoking can cause depression.  Whether or not depression leads to smoking remains controversial; however, a study by Elizabeth Goodman and John Capitman found that smoking does cause depression.  It also confirmed previous studies that people who are African American or another race are “protective from becoming a heavy smoker,” but are also at greater risk for developing depression.  In addition, this study linked other social factors to be influential in both the development of smoking and depression.  “Although potential genetic and family environment influences on development of depression in adolescents have been stressed, several of the social and psychological risk factors for tobacco use have also been implicated in the development of depression, including low socioeconomic status, poor school performance, low self-esteem, stressful life events, and conduct disorders.”  Essentially, social risk factors that have been considered to increase the likelihood of smoking also increase the likelihood of developing depression.

References:

1. Cockerham, William C. 2012. Medical Sociology, 12th Ed. Boston: Prentice Hall.

2. Goodman, E. (2000). Depressive Symptoms and Cigarette Smoking Among Teens. Pediatrics, 106(4), 748.

3. Pampel, Fred C. "Racial convergence in cigarette use from adolescence to the mid-thirties." The Journal of Health and Social Behavior 49.4 (2008): 484+. Health Reference Center Academic. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.