Young Adults More Likely To Quit Smoking Successfully

Main Category: Smoking / Quit Smoking
Article Date: 16 Jan 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Researchers at the Moores Cancer Centre at the University of California, San Diego said young adults are more likely than older adults to quit smoking successfully, partly because they are more likely to make a serious effort to quit.

The study also found that young adults, aged 18 to 24, are more likely to have tried to quit smoking than older adults, aged 50 to 64.

John P. Pierce, director of the UC San Diego's Cancer Prevention and Control Program said, "Most previous studies focused on smokers aged 35 and older who have smoked for 20 years or more. That has led to an overemphasis on drug treatments to help cessation, whereas this study emphasised the importance of implementing a smoke free home if a smoker wants to quit successfully."

The study utilized the largest available national data sample, the 2003 Tobacco Use Supplement to the U.S. Current Population Survey, to evaluate the relationship between smoking cessation rates and tobacco-related behaviours between age groups.

Eighty-four percent of those aged 18 to 24 reported seriously trying to quit in the prior year compared to just 64 percent of those 50 to 64 years old.

Additionally, the proportion of recent smokers who had quit for at least six months generally decreased as age increased. The older the smoker is, the less likely he or she is to quit or even try to quit. Young adult smokers were also more likely to come from smokefree homes, were less likely to use pharmaceutical aids and typically smoked fewer cigarettes a day.

"It is likely that high cessation rates among 18 to 24 year olds also reflect changing social norms over the previous decade," said Karen Messer, Ph.D., Moores UCSD Cancer Center. "Future tobacco control efforts aimed at increasing cessation rates among young adult smokers should continue to target social norms."

The study also showed that smokers who lived in a smokefree home were four times more successful at quitting than those who lived in a home with a smoker.

Pierce added, "It has been hypothesized that young people who take up smoking with restrictions at work and home are likely to develop lower levels of dependence than smokers who took up the habit without such restrictions. Smokefree homes place barriers around important potential smoking situations, such as after a meal. This study emphasises that these barriers may be sufficient to prevent relapse and offer a partial explanation for the strong association of smokefree homes and successful quitting."

The pharmaceutical aids, such as nicotine patches, inhalers, anti-depressive pills or nasal sprays, were helpful for smokers aged 35 to 49 years old.

The study "Smoking Cessation Rates in the United States: A Comparison of Young Adult and Older Smokers," was published in the Jan. 2, 2008 American Journal of Public Health.

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