Health and performance related reasons for wanting to quit: gender differences among teen smokers.
Adolescents frequently state health as a broad-ranging reason for wanting to quit smoking. Much less is known regarding performance-related reasons. We hypothesized that more male than female smokers want to quit for performance-related reasons (e.g., to improve athletic performance). As part of a telephone screen to determine eligibility for participation in a cessation trial in Baltimore, Maryland, 1999-2001, 509 teenage smokers [mean age 15.78 +/- 1.65 years (range 11-21), 60.9% female, 32.6% African-American] were asked the open-ended question: "Why do you want to quit?" Responses were subsequently grouped into categories that included health, performance, cost, social influences, setting an example for others, self-efficacy, cosmetics, no perceived positive reinforcement, or unknown reasons. Health was the most commonly stated primary and overall reason for wanting to quit among both boys and girls. Sixty-five percent of teen smokers endorsing health reasons were girls, and 51% of those endorsing performance-related reasons were boys (chi2(2) = 7.78, p = 0.02). Recognizing the greater concern for performance-related issues among boys is important for designing and engaging young smokers into cessation interventions.
Aung
A Thiri
AT
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, Teen Tobacco Addiction Treatment Research Clinic, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, USA.
Hickman
Norval J
NJ
Moolchan
Eric T
ET
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015142:Baltimore; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000523:psychology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires