Smoking Social Norms Among Young Adults in New York City

AbstractMore than half of young adult (YA) (ages 18 –26) smokers are non-daily smokers. While standard cessation methods are generally successful with adults and daily smokers, there is evidence that they are not as successful among non-daily smokers or young adults. Additionally, YA smokers are also in a transition period to regular smoking, makin g research on understanding how interpersonal and environmental factors affect this group of smokers critical. Randomized time location sampling was used to create a sample of New York City YA bar patrons between June and November 2013, who completed a self-administered survey (1,916 surveys). Quest ions were asked about perceived smoking social norms, stigma, behaviors, and demographics. Overall, almost half of the YA reported being current smokers (44.1%); one-third were non-daily smokers (36.7%) and less than ten percent were daily smokers (7.4%). Non-daily smokers compared with daily smoker s had greater odds of believing New Yorkers disapproved of smoking [adjusted odds ratio (ORadj 1.76, 95 % CI 1.10 –2.79)], keeping tobacco a secret from certain people (ORadj 1.84, 1.14 –2.96) and feeling guilty when smoking (ORadj: 2.54; 1.45 –4.45). Non-daily smokers had 41% lower odds of reporting how people who are important to you disapproved of smoking than daily smokers (ORadj: 0.59; 0.38 –0.94). Further studies of interpersonal/environmental factors among YA smokers may support modifications to cessation programs that resul...
Source: Journal of Community Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research