Why do some smokers manage to quit and others fail? A study carried out among adolescents makes it possible in particular to identify increased difficulties for girls.
Quitting smoking, easier for some? A study, published on June 3 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Preventionsuggests that certain factors can boost the chances of success for a young person who decides to quit smoking. Some are obvious, like the family environment, others more unexpected, like sex and playing a sport.
Addictions hinder success
620 adolescents participated in this study over five years. At the start of the study, they were 12-13 years old and provided accurate data every three months about themselves, their environment and how they perceive it. Overall, the students were highly exposed to cigarettes: 43% of them had parents who were smokers, 87% had friends who smoked, and 78% often saw a school staff member smoke.
In terms of obstacles to quitting smoking, this study does not contain any surprises. Family tensions, worries about your weight or the existence of overweight affect your success. People who use illicit drugs were less successful in quitting. The same goes for young people who are more tolerant of cigarette smoke or addicted to nicotine, who see the chances of completely weaning themselves down by 10 and 30%. “Overall, these results support the hypothesis that new smokers who live in families with healthy habits, including where non-smoking is the norm and where interactions are positive and functional, have an easier time quitting. to smoke, ”begins Professor O’Loughlin. According to her, parents should encourage their children to adopt healthy habits and create a healthy relationship with their offspring in order to optimize the chances of successful weaning.
Team sports help to stop
In the study, boys seemed to be much more advantaged: being male improves the chances of quitting smoking by 80%. This is also the case for older adolescents, who are 30% more likely to quit smoking compared to their younger peers. The practice of a team sport also plays a role: among the young people who decided to wean themselves, those who practiced a team sport or who were frightened by the health messages on the packages also saw the chances of success increase respectively by 40% and 44%.
“The predictors we have identified are common sense, and several lend themselves well to intervention, which is good news,” said Professor Jennifer O’Loughlin, co-author of the study. However, “it is imperative to better understand the factors that promote smoking cessation in girls compared to boys, in order to design targeted interventions based on gender,” says the researcher.
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