Study Findings

Below are brief summaries of articles that have been published describing the findings of the IU Smoking Survey.  This is just a small sample of what we have learned from the study.  If you want to know more, please let us know.

Factors in the Social Environment Important in Preventing Relapse Among Smokers Who Quit as Young Adults

Using the longitudinal IU Smoking Survey data, we selected individuals who had quit smoking for at least one year as young adults (18 to 24) and identified predictors of staying quit for more than five years (long-term abstinence) versus relapsing to smoking.  Overall, 67% of participants maintained long-term abstinence and 33% relapsed to smoking.  The strongest predictor of avoiding relapse was marrying a nonsmoker.  Other predictors included making one lifetime quit attempt, having as a young adult only one parent who smoked, and working in a completely smoke-free building.

Macy, J. T., Seo, D. C., Chassin, L., Presson, C. C., & Sherman, S. J. (2007). Prospective Predictors of Long-Term Abstinence Versus Relapse Among Smokers Who Quit as Young Adults. American Journal of Public Health, 97, 1470-1475.

Quitters Are Less Stressed

The information from the IU Smoking Survey allowed us to answer two questions:

1.       Will people who quit smoking have more or less stress?

2.       Will people who tried unsuccessfully to quit have more stress?

First, we found that those who successfully quit smoking had significant decreases in their stress. In fact, the decreases were so great that the quitters’ stress levels were the same as those who had never smoked.  Second, we learned that failing to quit smoking does not increase stress over time. People who had tried to quit but were not able to did not have any more stress than smokers who had never tried to quit.

Chassin, L., Presson, C. C., Sherman, S. J., & Kim, K. (2002). Long-term psychological sequelae of smoking cessation and relapse. Health Psychology, 21, 438-443.

Life is Complicated: There’s More to It Than Just Smokers and Non-Smokers

Most research on cigarette smoking has looked at differences between just two groups: smokers and non-smokers. However, because we have followed people over such a long period of time, we were able to identify subgroups of smokers based on the age one starts to smoke, how consistently one smokes, and how much one smokes. These groups differ in many ways in terms of their attitudes, beliefs, and personal characteristics, so to understand smoking, there’s more to it than just smokers and non-smokers. The subgroups that we identified are:

• Early Stable Smokers - Started smoking in middle school and kept smoking throughout the study.

• Late Stable Smokers - Started smoking regularly around age 18 and kept smoking throughout the study.

• Experimenters - Started smoking at an early age but never smoked heavily and stopped smoking after age 20.

• Erratic Smokers - Fluctuated between smoking and nonsmoking during the study.

• Quitters - Started smoking in high school, smoked less at age 20-21, and stopped smoking after age 25.

• Stable Abstainers - Never smoked during the time of the study.

Chassin, L., Presson, C. C., Pitts, S. C., & Sherman, S. J. (2000). The natural history of cigarette smoking from adolescence to adulthood in a Midwestern community sample: Multiple trajectories and their psychosocial correlates. Health Psychology, 19, 223-231.

Teenage Smoking Rates Decline From 1980 To 2001

From 1980 to 1983, we surveyed 7^th to 11^th graders in one Midwestern school corporation to find out about smoking behaviors and beliefs. We went back to the schools in 2001 to ask students the same questions, and we compared the results to 1980. We found that smoking was lower in 2001 than in 1980, especially in the group that said they had tried smoking (see graph). Students in 2001 viewed smoking as more addictive and as having more negative social consequences than students in 1980. Also, students had more negative health beliefs related to smoking in 2001 than in 1980. The more negative attitudes and beliefs in 2001 likely contributed to the lower smoking rates in 2001.

Chassin, L., Presson, C. C., Sherman, S. J., & Kim, K. (2003). Historical changes in cigarette smoking and smoking-related beliefs after two decades in a Midwestern community. Health Psychology, 22, 347-353.