SMOKING-RELATED BEHAVIOR, BELIEFS, AND SOCIAL-ENVIRONMENT OF YOUNG BLACK-WOMEN IN SUBSIDIZED PUBLIC-HOUSING IN CHICAGO

Survey data indicate that young Black female smokers living in public housing are heavier smokers and have weaker motivation to quit, health beliefs and social environment less conducive to cessation, and less knowledge of where to get help to quit than other young Black female s mokers in metropolitan Chicago. Compared with White women, the latter, other Black women smoke fewer cigarettes daily and have a stronger de sire to quit and more concern about health reasons for quiting, but ha ve a weaker belief in the risk of lung cancer from smoking, greater co ncern about quitting difficulties, and less knowledge of where to get help to quit. Low education, not race, is associated with higher smoki ng prevalence and less social pressure to quit or support for quitting .