Presenter(s): Abby Hyland
Faculty Mentor(s): Larissa Maier & Erin Vogel
Oral Session 1 C
Poster 164
Session: Social Sciences & Humanities
Introduction—Social smokers are a specific group of smokers who smoke mainly or only with others. They usually tend to underestimate the health risks associated with their tobacco consumption and are more confident in their ability to quit smoking. The goal of this study was to identify whether the intention to quit smoking differs between young adult social smokers and non-social smokers entering a social media intervention.
Methods—Young adults (N=179) aged 18-25 were recruited through Facebook to participate in the Smoking Tobacco And Drinking Study (STAND). Validated social smoking and stage of change measures collected at baseline from STAND were examined. Participants were grouped by: self- identification as a social smoker (SS+) or a non-social smoker (SS-), and daily smoker (DS) or non- daily smoker (NDS). A chi-square test was run to examine whether the groups differed in getting ready (GR) or not ready (NR) to quit smoking in the next 30 days.
Results— Two thirds (67.6%, n=121) identified as SS+ and 82.7% (n=148) were DS. About two thirds of SS+ (n=81) and SS- (n=38) were NR to quit. NDS, SS+ (n=20, 74.1%) had the highest proportion of participants who were NR, followed by DS, SS- (n=36, 66.7%), DS, SS+ (n=61, 64.9%), and NDS, SS- (n=2, 50.0%) but differences were not significant (χ2=1.293, p=.731).
Conclusion—The intention to quit smoking in the next 30 days did not differ between SS+ and SS- entering the intervention. Given that the NDS, SS+ group is likely to experience fewer problems related to smoking, they may be the least likely to quit smoking during the intervention.