​Using data from the 2015 California Health Interview Survey, the study examined how food insecurity and psychological distress interact in its association with smoking among lower-income adults who have ever smoked and explores how food insecurity and psychological distress are associated with quitting smoking using quit ratio estimates.

Reporting food insecurity with psychological distress was independently associated with lower odds of being a former smoker, compared to reporting food security without psychological distress. The quit ratio was lower among ever smokers reporting food insecurity with distress (41 percent) compared to ever smokers reporting food security without distress (63 percent). Specific conditions of impoverishment, such as food insecurity, interact with psychological distress in its association with continued smoking. Interventions to reduce socioeconomic disparities in smoking should consider the interacting role of food insecurity and psychological distress.

Publication Authors:
 

• Jin E. Kim-Mozeleski
• Janice Y. Tsoh, PhD