It's Harder To Quit Smoking When You're Poor
Even though cigarettes are expensive, the poor keep buying them
01/25/2012 | By Mark Huffman
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ConsumerAffairs.com
| Health
It seems counter-intuitive, but the smokers who can least afford today's high price of cigarettes have the hardest time quitting. That the finding of researchers at The City College of New York (CCNY).
Christine Sheffer, associate medical professor at CCNY’s Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, tracked smokers from different socioeconomic backgrounds after they had completed a statewide smoking cessation program in Arkansas.
Easy to quit, harder to stay a non-smoker
Whether rich or poor, participants managed to quit at about the same rate upon completing a therapy program. But as time went on, a disparity between the groups appeared and widened.
Those with the fewest social and financial resources had the hardest time staving off cravings over the long run.
“The poorer they are, the worse it gets,” said Sheffer, who directed the program and was an assistant professor with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences at the time.
55 percent more likely to resume smoking
She found that smokers on the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder were 55 percent more likely than those at the upper end to start smoking again three months after treatment. By six months post-quitting, the probability of their going back to cigarettes jumped to two-and-a-half times that of the more affluent smokers.
The research will be published in the March 2012 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
Despite the high price of cigarettes, the study found that Americans with household incomes of $15,000 or less smoke at nearly three times the rate of those with incomes of $50,000 or greater. The consequences are bleak.
“Smoking is still the greatest cause of preventable death and disease in the United States today,” Sheffer said. “And it’s a growing problem in developing countries.”
Harder to Stay Away
Why do the poor have a harder time kicking the habit? Sheffer suggests it's because smoking does, in fact, relieve stress, and those on the economy's bottom rungs tend to have more stress in their lives.
Sheffer said the working poor tend to have jobs where there are fewer no-smoking policies in place. Surrounded at work by smokers, she says, it's hard to resist the temptation to light up.
Frank Cole (Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:29:44 +0000): Poverty, boredom and/or monotonous jobs make it hard to quit smoking. Additionally, the advertising by the tobacco companies are aimed at the poor and immigrant communities through intense billboard campaigns. Smoking is an escape mechanism and so are the state lotteries that target the poor.
Sherri Robertson (Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:02:57 +0000): I only have one question? Why target smokers on a continuous basis when drinking causes problems as well? They always speak of how second hand smoke kills others and as true as this might be, so do drunk drivers that it actually impairs the brain. Lighting up a cigarette is not going to take someone's life faster than a drunk on the road. I know which one I would choose.
Frederic Hawley (Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:37:32 +0000): I quit drinking alcohol 12 years ago. My sister, who refused to quit drinking, died of cirrhosis of the liver on Christmas Day. Now I am quitting smoking, because I want to live a long and healthy life. That's really what it's all about. Smoking cigarettes really is one of the most dirty, filthy, antisocial activities it's possible to engage in. During my 45 years of smoking, I said many times that I didn't want to quit because I enjoyed smoking. But that was a lie I told myself to excuse myself for continuing to spend ridiculous amounts of money on cigarettes. Smoking is offensive to everyone except people who do it. And yes, it is the single most damaging thing you can do for your health. This is not a matter of opinion or faith. It is a scientific fact.
Mohammad Alghazi (Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:42:53 +0000): Life makes it hard to quit smoking!