subject: Factors Influencing Tobacco Use Among Women [print this page] Cigarette smoking was rare among women in the early 20th century. Cigarette smoking became prevalent among women after it did among men, and smoking prevalence has always been lower among women than among men. However, the gender-specific difference in smoking prevalence narrowed between 1965 and 1985. Since 1985, the decline in prevalence among men and women has been comparable.
Smoking prevalence decreased among women from 33.9% in 1965 to 22.0% in 1998. Most of this decline occurred from 1974 through 1990; prevalence declined very little from 1992 through 1998.
The prevalence of current smoking is three times higher among women with 9-11 years of education (32.9%) than among women with 16 or more years of education (11.2%).
Smoking prevalence is higher among women living below the poverty level (29.6%) than among those living at or above the poverty level (21.6%).
Girls who initiate smoking are more likely than those who do not smoke to have parents or friends who smoke. They also tend to have weaker attachments to parents and family and stronger attachments to peers and friends. They perceive smoking prevalence to be higher than it actually is, are inclined to risk taking and rebelliousness, have a weaker commitment to school or religion, have less knowledge of the adverse consequences of smoking and the addictiveness of nicotine, believe that smoking can control weight and negative moods, and have a positive image of smokers.
Women who continue to smoke and those who fail at attempts to stop smoking tend to have lower education and employment levels than do women who quit smoking. They also tend to be more addicted to cigarettes, as evidenced by the smoking of a higher number of cigarettes per day, to be cognitively less ready to stop smoking, to have less social support for stopping, and to be less confident in resisting temptations to smoke.
The level of nicotine dependence is strongly associated with the quantity of cigarettes smoked per day.
When results are stratified by the number of cigarettes smoked per day, girls and women who smoke appear to be equally dependent on nicotine, as measured by first cigarette after waking, smoking for a calming and relaxing effect, withdrawal symptoms, or other measures of nicotine dependence.
Of the women who smoke, more than three-fourths report one or more indicators of nicotine dependence, and nearly three-fourths report feeling dependent on cigarettes.
