Does perceived safety of light cigarette encourage smokers to smoke more or to inhale more deeply?
OBJECTIVE
This study investigated the effect of smoking light cigarettes and believing that light cigarettes are less of a health threat on the decision to smoke more light cigarettes or inhale more deeply in Taiwan.


METHODS
Demographic and smoking characteristic data for 1,182 smokers who believe that smoking light cigarettes is relatively safe was obtained from the 2002 Survey of the Health Promotion Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior of Taiwan Citizens; this data was used to establish Logit models for the decision to smoke more light cigarettes or inhale more deeply.


RESULTS
Respectively 5.64% and 4.76% of the light cigarette smokers were motivated to smoke more light cigarettes or inhale more deeply by their belief that light cigarettes are relatively safe. Light cigarette smokers, who believe that light cigarettes are relatively safe and who wish to quit smoking, and light smokers, are both likely to smoke more light cigarettes or inhale light cigarettes more deeply in comparison to ordinary cigarette smokers.


CONCLUSIONS
Government should attempt to reverse the tendency for light smokers to smoke more under the misconception that light cigarettes are relatively safe, and correct the erroneous belief among smokers who wish to quit that smoking light cigarettes is an intermediate stage on the path to quitting.
Lee
Jie-Min
JM
Department of Logistics Management, National Kaohsiung Marine University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. jmlee866@yahoo.com.tw
Chen
Sheng-Hung
SH
Hsieh
Chi-Jung
CJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000329:Advertising; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012449:Safety; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013624:Taiwan; D019460:Tobacco Industry; D055815:Young Adult