Violent Assault, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Depression

Abstract

Cigarette smoking may be conceptualized as a strategy to cope with negative affect. Therefore, rates of cigarette use might be expected to be greater in individuals experiencing events that produce negative affect, such as assault. To test this hypothesis, a national sample of 3,006 women aged 18 and older was assessed for lifetime and current cigarette use, previous history of physical and sexual assault, lifetime and current incidence of depression, and lifetime and current incidence of PTSD. Results indicated that the odds of active smoking in women with a lifetime history of assault were 1.82 times those of women with no previous history of assault. Similarly, risk of active cigarette use in women with a previous history of depression or PTSD was 2.22 and 1.34 times those of women with no depressive or PTSD history, respectively. Recent assault, current PTSD, or current depression status were not associated with increased cigarette use.