Postpartum relapse to cigarette smoking in inner city women

Past studies suggest that African American women who quit smoking during pregnancy are more likely to relapse during the postpartum period than white women, although it is not intuitively clear why this should be the case. To shed further light on this issue, two studies were carried out to determine factors that influence smoking cessation during pregnancy and postpartum relapse to smoking in a predominantly low-income African American population. In Study 1, the women were asked to fill out a written survey, and in Study 2, women participated in a structured interview. The same variables that influence smoking cessation and postpartum relapse in the general population, such as nicotine addiction levels, smoking by other members of the household, lack of social support, stress, weight gain, behavioral intentions to quit temporarily, and quitting for others, as opposed to one's self, influenced the behavior of low-income inner city residents. These findings suggest that the difference in rates of postpartum relapse to smoking in African American women and the general population is a matter of degree, rather than kind. The implications of these findings for understanding postpartum relapse in general and assisting low-income women in particular were discussed.