An extrapolation of this framework to human addiction suggests that environments (or neighborhoods) with numerous resources would be associated with less stress and thus less drug addiction, whereas deprived environments would be associated with greater stress and drug addiction. In fact, research among racially/ethnically diverse smokers has confirmed a significant selleckbio prospective relationship between neighborhood problems and neighborhood vigilance and increased negative affect/stress (Businelle et al., 2010), and numerous human studies have linked negative affect and stress to smoking behaviors and smoking cessation (e.g., Kenford et al., 2002; Shiffman & Waters, 2004).

Other potential mechanisms connecting neighborhood environments and smoking behaviors could include the increased presence of smoking cues in less desirable neighborhoods, such as a greater density of tobacco retail outlets and more tobacco advertising (cf. Schneider, Reid, Peterson, Lowe, & Hughey, 2005; Siahpush, Jones, Singh, Timsina, & Martin, 2010a, 2010b). Tobacco retail outlet density has been associated with the number of cigarettes consumed per day among smokers in at least one prior study (Chuang, Cubbin, Ahn, & Winkleby, 2005). Thus, subjective perceptions of problems or the need for increased vigilance in the neighborhood might affect tobacco dependence among smokers through motives such as the relief of negative affect/stress or by evoking greater physiological cravings to smoke in response to smoking cues.

Increasing understanding of relations between neighborhood perceptions and tobacco dependence is an important first step in better understanding the influence of the neighborhood environment on smoking behaviors. To our knowledge, only one study has examined the impact of neighborhood perceptions on nicotine dependence. Specifically, Sapag et al. (2010) found that trust among neighbors was inversely associated with the number of cigarettes smoked per day among Chilean smokers. However, no previous studies have examined the association between the neighborhood context and smoking dependence among vulnerable minority groups in the United States, such as African Americans (AAs). A better understanding of the relations between the neighborhood environment and tobacco dependence among this population is important, as AA smokers are more likely to incur tobacco-related diseases and die from these diseases than their Caucasian counterparts, despite the later initiation of smoking and lower smoking rates (i.e., cigarettes consumed per day) than Caucasian smokers (American Cancer Society, 2009; Vidrine et al., 2009a, 2009b). In addition, AA smokers may also be less likely to successfully quit smoking Cilengitide than Caucasians (Fu et al.