Childhood Adversity Interacts With Adult Stressful Events to Predict Reduced Likelihood of Smoking Cessation Among Women but Not Men

Abstract

Research has documented important sex differences in associations between early stress, stress sensitization, and psychiatric outcomes. The current study investigated whether sex differences in stress sensitization extended to cigarette smoking cessation. Data were analyzed from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (Waves 1 and 2), selecting for current daily and nondaily smokers at Wave 1 (daily smokers: n = 3,499 women, 3,055 men; nondaily smokers: n = 451 women, 501 men). Three-way interactions among sex, childhood adversity, and past-year stressful life events were modeled in the prediction of smoking cessation. Among women, stressful life events were more strongly related to lower likelihood of smoking cessation for those with a history of childhood adversity than those without. This relationship was not found among men. The stress sensitization model may be applicable to women with regard to smoking cessation, supporting further exploration of stress sensitization as a prevention and clinical target for smoking cessation.