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May 26, 2008
NY Times: Study Finds Big Social Factor in Quitting Smoking
The New York Times (5/22, A22) reports that "[s]mokers tend to quit in groups,...which means smoking cessation programs should work best if they focus on groups, rather than individuals," according to a study published in the May 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Nicholas A. Christakis, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., of Harvard Medical School, and James Fowler, Ph.D., of the University of California-San Diego, "followed thousands of smokers and nonsmokers for 32 years, from 1971 until 2003, studying them as part of a large network of relatives, co-workers, neighbors, friends, and friends of friends."
The researchers "analyzed 12,067 people from a single U.S. town, Framingham, Mass.," the Wall Street Journal (5/22, D6, Winstein) adds. They "found that a spouse who quits smoking makes one 67 percent less likely to smoke." Furthermore, a "friend's quitting decreases one's chance of smoking by 36 percent," and Framingham "[r]esidents with more schooling were more likely to influence each other than those without."
Related Links:
- "Study Finds Big Social Factor in Quitting Smoking," Gina Kolata, New York Times, May 22, 2008.
Posted by admin at May 26, 2008 11:59 AM