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.