Smoking habits and reported illness in two communities with different systems of social support

Abstract

A retrospective comparison of smoking habits and reported illness in Roseto, Pennsylvania and Tecumseh, Michigan was undertaken to determine the role of different systems of social support in abating the consequences of risk behaviors such as smoking on chronic diseases. In this study of 898 adult inhabitants of Roseto, a demographically homogeneous Italian-American community and 4590 adult inhabitants of Tecumseh, a heterogeneous geographically defined community, smoking habits were related to health and social characteristics. Smokers in both communities of both sexes had less education than nonsmokers, although the reverse was true among women with 13 years or more of education. The smoking habits of husbands and wives were also similar. No significant relationship was found in either community between smoking (or the amount smoked in Roseto) and coronary heart disease, hypertension, or somatic complaints. Cigarette smoking was more common, however, among respondents with a history of peptic ulcers, and in Roseto these persons with ulcers also tended to be heavy smokers. A greater prevalence of hypertension was observed in Tecumseh among males and females than in Roseto. These results are interpreted in light of differing systems of social support in the two communities.