Smokers Who Fail to Identify Smoking Cessation as a Health Priority

Background. Smokers who identified smoking cessation as the primary activity they could undertake to improve their health were compared with smokers who did not identify smoking cessation. Examined factors included personal characteristics, health status, smoking attitudes and behaviors, and social factors. Methods. Subjects were 225 smokers who participated in a telephone survey of 853 randomly selected adults. Results. Fifty-six percent of smokers did not identify smoking cessation as a priority. Nonidentifiers were more likely than identifiers to have minimal personal income, no paid employment, poor or fair health, dissatisfaction with their overall physical condition, less energy than others, little perceived control over their health, smoked fewer cigarettes per day, and reported no previous quit attempts. They were less likely to agree that they lacked the willpower to quit or that smoking helped them deal with stress. Conclusions. Smokers who fail to identify smoking cessation as a priority strategy for health improvement are unlikely to be exposed to workplace and social censures and should be targeted by health professionals.