Smoking-related weight control expectancies among African American light smokers enrolled in a smoking-cessation trial

Concern about weight gain following smoking cessation has been frequently described in the literature. However, little is known about smoking-related weight expectancies among African American, light smokers (defined as <= 10 cigarettes per day [CPD] for > 25 of last 30 days). Given the high rate of obesity among African Americans, concern about weight gain may be a significant barrier to cessation. The association of demographic, psychosocial and tobacco-related variables and smoking-related weight control expectancies were examined in 755 African American regular, light smokers enrolled in a smoking cessation trial (number of years smoked=23.9+11.9; CPD=7.6 +/- 3.2: age=45.1 +/- 10.7; BMI=31 +/- 8.1: 67% female). Overall, participants had minimal smoking-related weight control expectancies (M=3.7/10, SD +/- 3.4); however, higher weight control expectancies were related to female gender, lower dietary fat intake and lower internal self-efficacy to refrain from smoking. Further, smoking-related weight control expectancies were not associated with cessation outcome at week-26. Findings suggest that weight control expectancies exist among some African American light smokers and are related to decreased self-efficacy to refrain from smoking. However, the relationship between smoking-related weight expectancies and health behaviors are complex and modest in magnitude. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.