Race as a moderator of the relationship between distress tolerance and cigarette smoking

The present study examined the role of distress tolerance (DT) and race in relation to cigarette smoking. For this study, between 2008 and 2010, 153 women (62.1% White, 37.9% African American) from the Washington, DC metropolitan area completed a computerized behavioral DT task and self-reported smoking history. Results suggest that low DT (OR =.23, p =.03) and the interaction between DT and race (OR = 4.58, p =.05) were significantly related to greater odds of being a smoker, such that African American women, but not White women, with low DT were at increased risk for being a lifetime smoker.