The survey findings supported the suggestion from the focus groups that religion was an important aspect of African-Caribbean culture. In the survey, 10 out of 59 (17%) young white women reported that they were religious or fairly religious, whilst 30 out of 41 (73%) young black women reported that they were religious or fairly religious. Twenty-one of 41 (51%) young black women reported belonging to a particular church or religious organisation as compared to only 15 out of 58
a much greater role in the lives of these young black women and hence may serve as a protective factor in relation to black women and cigarette smoking. This may be because religion prohibits cigarette smoking or because while attending religious organisations the young women have less opportunity to smoke as they are under the gaze of adults.
Not only did young black women report that they were religious, they also reported attending a place of worship. While 24% of young black women often went to a place of worship, less than 4% of young white women reported going to a place of worship often. Twice as many young white women reported never going to a place of worship than young black women: 77% of young white compared to 35% of young black women never went to a place of worship. All the African women went to a place of worship often or sometimes. African-Caribbean and African young women were more likely to go to a place of worship than young white women. Thus black women have a stronger religious identity than white women, which is part of African and African-Caribbean cultural identity. This aspect of cultural identity is also protective in relation to cigarette smoking as I will show later in this chapter. At teen age, religious and cultural identity may thus protect young African- Caribbean women from cigarette smoking. Religious identity is an important part of African-Caribbean family life and may also account for the greater proportion of time that young African and African-Caribbean women spent with their parents and siblings. From my data there appears to be a negative correlation between
cigarette smoking and attending a religious organisation.
Religion is an important influence in many black families. Fundamentalist religions such as the Church of God of Prophecy and Seventh-day Adventism based on the Old Testament prohibit cigarette smoking (and drinking of alcohol). While New Testament religions do not prohibit cigarette smoking, they are conservative and would not encourage cigarette smoking, particularly among young women. Thus religion may serve as a protective factor in relation to cigarette smoking and this may be one of the reasons why regular cigarette smoking in young black women is lower than for white women. Of course there are many black people who are members of mainstream Christian churches which also frown on cigarette smoking although it is not prohibited. A small number of African-Caribbeans may be
Rastafarian. It is estimated that perhaps 5% of the population in Jamaica practise Rastafari. However, Rastafari as an ideology and philosophy has a far reach and influence in African-Caribbean communities. Both fundamentalist religions and
Rastafari have rigid beliefs about women which will influence women’s behaviour and cigarette smoking behaviour. This view was reinforced in the focus group discussions.
Researcher: What about… you talked about church, do you think religion? Keisha: Yes. Because you are not encouraged to smoke. I don’t see why people would even do it, like if you do something and you know that it is wrong.
Researcher: So are there a lot of black women in church do you think? Do you think there are more black women than white women that go to church?
Alicia: Yes.
Keisha: I don’t know. Alicia: In my church, yes. Jade: In the churches I go.
Keisha: You find that it is mostly the black people saying that they believe in God and the white people saying he doesn’t exist and stuff.
Jade: I don’t know no white people that go to church, except my auntie. Researcher: So you think religion plays a strong part in terms of black women smoking?
Jade: Not strong. But it does play a part. Because I do know people that did.
Alicia: I like to make up my own mind, and smoke. (Focus group 1)
This discussion indicates the view of these young women that African-Caribbean young women were more religious than their white female peers and had higher rates of religious attendance. In addition, religious activity might be mandated by the young black women’s and may suggest much stronger family ties. More generally there are negative attitudes towards cigarette smoking in African- Caribbean culture and families; hence, cigarette smoking is prohibited at home so there may be fewer opportunities for African-Caribbean women to smoke as they are more likely to be under the supervision of adults at home, at school, in the religious organisations they attend and in the communities in which they live.
of both a local African-Caribbean community and a transnational Caribbean community (Reynolds, 2006). Reynolds’ study revealed discussions about visits to relatives in the Caribbean and visits from relatives from the Caribbean. In addition they discussed Caribbean music, films and activities around holidays such as Christmas. While these discussions did not feature in my focus groups because of the limited time and the primary focus on cigarette smoking, the fact that in one of my focus group I had a large group of African-Caribbean young women who had recently migrated from the Caribbean demonstrates the changing nature of the Caribbean community in the UK and the continued links between the UK and the Caribbean. While the main wave of migration from the Caribbean took place in the 1950s, there continues to be some migration from the Caribbean to the UK
(Reynolds, 2011). At the same time there is return migration from the UK to the Caribbean – particularly among the cohort of African-Caribbeans who settled in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s and who on reaching retirement have returned to the Caribbean (Potter et al, 2005). There is a perpetual process of visiting relatives in both directions – hence the Caribbean community in the UK is very much in touch with communities in the Caribbean which serves to renew and reinforce traditional Caribbean values, views and beliefs.