Gender Differences in Smoking Behavior and Dependence Motives among Daily and Nondaily Smokers
Menée à partir des données d'une enquête en ligne, cette étude analyse, en fonction du sexe, les comportements tabagiques et les raisons motivant la consommation de tabac chez les fumeurs occasionnels (1 201 participants) et les fumeurs quotidiens (1 175 participants)
Introduction : While the overall prevalence of smoking has declined, nondaily smoking (NDS) is on the rise. Among daily smokers (DS) men tend to smoke more cigarettes per day (CPD) and have higher dependence. Unfortunately little is known about gender differences in NDS. Methods : This secondary-data analysis utilized data from a cross-sectional online survey. Participants reported on smoking behavior (e.g. CPD, history of quit attempts) and nicotine dependence motives as assessed by the Brief Wisconsin Inventory of Dependence Motives (WISDM) via the primary and secondary subscales (i.e., core features of tobacco dependence such as craving and accessory motives such as weight control, respectively). Results : Participants were 1,175 DS (60% women) and 1,201 NDS (56% women). Two interactions between group and gender were noted suggesting that the NDS had greater gender differences in past quit attempts (p<0.01) and reported change in smoking behavior over the past year (p<0.01). Further, among the NDS group, men scored significantly higher than women on both the primary and secondary dependence motives subscales (3.6±0.1 vs. 2.9±0.1, p<0.0001; 3.8±0.1 vs. 3.3±0.1, p<0.0001; respectively). There were no significant differences in dependence motives in the DS group (p>0.05). Conclusions : Gender differences in smoking behavior and dependence motives varied between NDS and DS. Specifically, gender differences in smoking behavior and smoking dependence motives may be larger among NDS compared to DS. Additional research is needed to explore how these relationships may relate to smoking cessation in NDS.