261321 “I get by with a little help from my friends”: The Relationship of LGBT Community Participation and Social Support to Smoking Frequency in Sexual Minority Women

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 : 1:00 PM - 1:15 PM

Michelle Johns, MPH , Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Andrew Hickok, MPH , Sexuality & Health Lab (SexLab), University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Emily Pingel, MPH , Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Emily Youatt, MPH , Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Jose A. Bauermeister, MPH, PhD , Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Smoking rates among sexual minority women (SMW) are disproportionately high as compared to heterosexual populations. To investigate this disparity, we explored whether two sources of support, LGBT community participation and peer social support, serve to buffer against stress processes and reduce smoking frequency. The Michigan Smoking and Sexuality Study (M-SASS; N=484; 25% non-smokers) was a cross-sectional survey designed to investigate young SMW (YSMW; age 18 to 24) smoking behaviors and correlates. We tested two explanatory models of support and smoking frequency (i.e., never, some days, everyday) using multinomial regression. Model 1 addressed stress and LGBT community participation factors, and Model 2 addressed stress and peer social support. We find no support for the role of LGBT community participation as a protective factor for the smoking frequency of SMW (Model 1); however, peer social support decreased the odds of smoking for SMW (Model 2). SMW were more likely to be non-smokers than occasional smokers if they had greater peer social support (AOR=1.28). Furthermore, social support buffered the association between stress and smoking among occasional smokers, but not among everyday smokers. We discuss whether LGBT organizational participation is valid as a measure of community involvement for SMW, especially given recent critiques of these organizations as being more representative of sexual minority men. We highlight the protective role that peers play in the lives and health of SMW, and underscore the need to consider LGBT peer relationships when developing prevention and cessation programs for YSMW.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the protective relationship of peer support and smoking frequency among sexual minority women. Describe the relationship of stress to smoking frequency among sexual minority women. Identify the unique position of sexual minority women to the greater LGBT community.

Keywords: Lesbian Health, Smoking

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a doctoral student in the department of Health Behavior and Health education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. I have worked in LGBT health care for 7 years, and have dedicated my education to understanding and combating health disparities within LGBT populations.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.