The Stages of Change in Smoking Cessation in a Representative Sample of Korean Adult Smokers

Abstract

This study reports the stages of change in smoking cessation in a representative sample of Korean adult smokers. The study subjects, all adult smokers (n=2,422), were recruited from the second Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in 2001. The stages of change were categorized using demographic (age and sex), socioeconomic (education, residence, and household income), and smoking characteristics (age at smoking onset, duration of smoking, and number of cigarettes smoked per day). Age-stratified analyses of the association of socioeconomic and smoking characteristics with the stages of change in male and female smokers were also conducted. According to the stages of change, the study population consisted of 37.6% (95% CI, 35.7-39.5) pre-contemplation, 56.0% (54.0-58.0) contemplation, and 6.4% (5.4-7.4) preparation. The associations between the characteristics of the smokers and the stages of change were all statistically significant. The age-stratified analyses showed that all the socioeconomic and smoking characteristics were significantly associated with the stages in males, while education and residence had significant associations in females. This study revealed that a relatively small number of Korean smokers were prepared to quit and the stage distribution might be influenced by demographic, socioeconomic, and smoking char-acteristics.

Stages of Smoking Cessation among Malaysian Adults - Findings from National Health Morbidity Survey 2006

“…This finding is consistent with other studies in which the pre-contemplators have smoked more cigarettes per day than contemplators (DicClemente et al, 1991;Fava et al, 1995;Jhun and Seo, 2006). Additionally, a previous study in North America and Ethiopia showed that a high number of cigarette consumption among smokers was associated with lower motivation to quit smoking (Etter et al, 1997;Girma et al, 2011;Fu et al, 2011).…”

Stages of change, smoking characteristics, and cotinine concentrations in smokers: Setting priorities for smoking cessation

“…Nevertheless, descriptions of smokers by stages of change continue to be widely used in clinical settings, because they are useful in directing the treatment, studying different populations of smokers, analysing profiles of subjects by stage over time (Connors et al, 2004), and assessing priorities for individuals or groups within a population that are targets of different health education strategies (Jhun and Seo, 2006;Wewers et al, 2003).…”

Effect of Increasing Tobacco Prices on Stages of Smoking Cessation: A Korean Nationwide Data Analysis

“…16 In the present study, age (1-year increase), income (lowest quartile), and occupational status (manual workers and unemployed individuals) were predictors of belonging to the group of smokers in the precontemplation stage (those with no intention to quit smoking). 9,11,17) Jhun and Seo 18) found that smokers with a longer smoking duration smokers who are unemployed and earning a low income. These results were also consistent with previous findings suggesting that manual workers have high rates of smoking and low rates of quitting.…”

“…12) Most studies have consistently reported similar results. 10,13,18) However, in one study conducted in China, income was not significantly related to smoking cessation. 19) The researchers attributed this finding to the rapid economic growth in China.…”