Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502160093
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TANYA BARRIENTOS KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This is a mystery, but it's not a whodunit.
That's because it's clear who does it and who doesn't. White girls do; black girls don't.
What isn't clear is why. Or how those who do can be persuaded to join those who don't.
Statistics released late last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that young white women (ages 18-24) are the fastest-growing group of smokers in the nation.
But the percentage of black women of the same age who smoke has plummeted so low that it appears they have almost stopped.
Why?
The report didn't say. And scientists as well as anti-smoking advocates and doctors can't seem to figure it out, either. They theorize, however, that it must have something to do with cultural differences among young people.
The report, released in November, showed that in 1987, the percentage of white and black young women smokers was roughly comparable - 27.8 percent among whites and 20.4 percent among blacks.
From 1987 until 1991, the percentages among both groups decreased, slightly among whites, sharply among blacks. By 1991, the numbers were 25.2 percent for white females and 11.9 percent for black females.
But it's the 1992 statistic that jumped out.
It showed that while the percentage of young white female smokers began to creep back up (27.2), the percentage of young black female smokers plummeted yet again - to 5.9 percent.
Researchers say it's no fluke, because more-recent statistics back up the 1992 findings.
A 1993 study of Pennsylvania smokers conducted by the state Department of Health showed similar trends among students.
Boys and girls in grades 7, 9 and 12 surveyed by the state that year were asked whether they had smoked 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and smoked within the last 30 days.
More than twice the number of white students (17.7 percent) said they consider themselves regular smokers, than blacks (5.9 percent).
Experts said that, while they haven't yet tested their theories, they believe there are differences between the white and black youth cultures that explain the disparity in smoking statistics.
Charyn Sutton, a public health marketing expert, said she had studied the trend for several years and had come up with a general theory as to why young black women don't smoke as much as their white peers.
``One of the most important reasons is the issue of body weight,'' said Sutton, president of the Onyx Group marketing company and a volunteer with the American Heart Association.
``The black culture permits women to be heavier and still be attractive. There is not, I really believe, the whole need to be thin ... in fact being skinny, for them, is a negative. It's that need to be thin that is feeding a lot of tobacco use among white girls.''
That theory seemed to jell with the sentiments of young black and white women interviewed. Both smokers and nonsmokers agreed that weight and peer pressure were the main reasons white women smoke and black women do not.
``We're, like, exactly the same age, and people see us differently,'' said Angie Nowak, 18, a student at Temple University in Philadelphia. She is white, and her roommate is black. They both smoke.
``My black girlfriends always put me down for smoking,'' said Nowak's roommate, Jaimie, who did not want her last name published, ``but my white girlfriends always say, `give me one.'''
Rhonda Hall, 19, who is black, said the low smoking statistics among black women surprised her. But her girlfriend, Thaiia White, said the numbers only mirrored what she's noticed in school and on the street. Both the women are African American, and both said they had never smoked.
``It doesn't surprise me at all,'' White said. ``I mean in high school, think of who was in the girls' room smoking. It was the white girls.''
Hall said black girls don't include smoking in the list of behaviors required to be trendy or popular.
``With black girls, it's more about how you carry yourself, having a strong presence, and you don't have to smoke to have that,'' she said.
Her girlfriend, Thaiia White, elaborated: ``We have other ways of being accepted or being thought of as cool, like hairstyles and fashion.''
by CNB