Tobacco Use and Sexual Identity

Tobacco use continues to be the number one cause of preventable death.  Each year tobacco use takes over 400,000 lives (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).   Recently a study was published by Jessica M. Rath, Andrea C. Villanti, Rebecca A. Rubenstein, and Donna M. Vallone which looked at the use of tobacco by people of different sexual identity.  For the study they defined sexual orientation by looking at attraction, behavior, and which group the person identified with.  The study sought to compare the use of tobacco by sexual majority, heterosexuals, versus that of the sexual minorities.  

Not many studies have been done on tobacco use by people of the sexual minority.  The study claims this is because it is hard to collect quality samples from the very small population and it is often more difficult to get respondents to disclose their sexual identity.  As of 2012 no major federally funded health survey asked about sexual orientation.

For the study they took a sample of 4,215 adults ranging from the ages 18 to 34.  Respondents were asked to state if they were gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, straight, other, or don’t know/not sure.  The demographic factors included age, gender, race, education, employment, and finical situation. The survey then asked about cigarette use in the past 30 days.

In the results the survey found that homosexuals and bisexuals cigarette use was higher than that of heterosexuals.  The survey found that only 22 percent of heterosexuals used tobacco while 35 percent of homosexuals and 31 percent of bisexuals used tobacco.  The study found that respondents of a sexual minority that used other drugs or alcohol were more likely to also use tobacco.

           

Resources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008; Danaei et al., 2009; Mokdad, Marks, Stroup, & Gerberding, 2005

Rath, Jessica M., PhD, MPH, Andrea C. Villanti, PhD, MPH, Rebecca A.  Rubenstein, BA, and Donna M. Vallone, PhD, MPH. "Tobacco Use by Sexual Identity among Young Adults in the United states." Nicotine & Tobacco Research Advance Access (2013): 1-10.