Waterpipe Smoking among Arab American Women

A popular form of tobacco use among Arab Americans, especially Arab American women, is waterpipe smoking. Waterpipe tobacco is a mixture of tobacco fermented with molasses and fruits. This leads to a sweet and perfumed tobacco smoke that is more reinforcing than typical cigarettes and may contribute to addiction. The aim of this study is to determine predictors of waterpipe use level (regular versus occasional) among Arab American women. Regular waterpipe smoking was defined as smoking a waterpipe at least once a month. Occasional waterpipe smoking was defined as smoking a waterpipe less frequently than monthly use. Secondary data analyses were conducted on a data set from Al-Wikaya study, a self-administered cross-sectional survey on waterpipe smoking use among Arab Americans. The waterpipe survey was designed based on an ecological framework. Data from Arab American female waterpipe smoker participants (N=176) were analyzed to investigate contingencies theoretically responsible for their waterpipe smoking levels. The female participants of the study were between the ages of 18 and 80 years, with an average age of 29 years (SD = 13). After controlling for demographic characteristics, findings from a logistic regression analysis showed that regular waterpipe smoking was positively associated with smoking a waterpipe at home (P = .010), smoking a waterpipe with one close friend (P = .003), and initiating waterpipe smoking at an early age (P = .023). These predictors will help identify points of intervention to help design tailored health prevention programs to curb waterpipe smoking among Arab American women.