Skip to main content
PMC home page
Tobacco Control logoLink to Tobacco Control
. 1998 Sep;7(3):262–267. doi: 10.1136/tc.7.3.262

Psychosocial, behavioural, and health determinants of successful smoking cessation: a longitudinal study of Danish adults

M Osler 1, E Prescott 1
PMCID: PMC1763896  PMID: 9825421

Abstract

OBJECTIVE—To examine the factors that determine whether or not smokers become long-term quitters, and to study whether determinants of successful cessation differ with levels of motivation to stop.
DESIGN—In a cohort of men and women, aged 30-60 years at first examination in 1982/1984, smoking behaviour was evaluated from questionnaires at baseline and at follow up 10 years later.
SETTING—County of Copenhagen, Denmark
PARTICIPANTS—2554 subjects from the original sample of 4581 were successfully followed. This study deals with the 1365 subjects who were smokers at the first examination.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE—Smoking status (abstinent for one year or more) at follow up.
RESULTS—At follow up 15% of the baseline smokers had been abstinent for one year or more. In multivariate analysis, successful smoking cessation was associated with older age, high social status, low prior tobacco consumption, baseline motivation to stop smoking, and having a non-smoking spouse/cohabitant. The same result was obtained when the analyses were repeated separately for smokers with and without motivation to stop.
CONCLUSIONS—Smokers motivated to stop are more likely to quit and remain abstinent than smokers with no such motivation. Age, social status, spouse/cohabitant's smoking behaviour, and the daily consumption of tobacco predict success in smoking cessation, irrespective of smokers' former motivation to stop.


Keywords: smoking cessation predictors; Denmark

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (120.4 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bjornson W., Rand C., Connett J. E., Lindgren P., Nides M., Pope F., Buist A. S., Hoppe-Ryan C., O'Hara P. Gender differences in smoking cessation after 3 years in the Lung Health Study. Am J Public Health. 1995 Feb;85(2):223–230. doi: 10.2105/ajph.85.2.223. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cnattingius S., Lindmark G., Meirik O. Who continues to smoke while pregnant? J Epidemiol Community Health. 1992 Jun;46(3):218–221. doi: 10.1136/jech.46.3.218. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Coambs R. B., Li S., Kozlowski L. T. Age interacts with heaviness of smoking in predicting success in cessation of smoking. Am J Epidemiol. 1992 Feb 1;135(3):240–246. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a116277. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Curry S. J., McBride C. M. Relapse prevention for smoking cessation: review and evaluation of concepts and interventions. Annu Rev Public Health. 1994;15:345–366. doi: 10.1146/annurev.pu.15.050194.002021. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dejin-Karlsson E., Hanson B. S., Ostergren P. O., Ranstam J., Isacsson S. O., Sjöberg N. O. Psychosocial resources and persistent smoking in early pregnancy--a population study of women in their first pregnancy in Sweden. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1996 Feb;50(1):33–39. doi: 10.1136/jech.50.1.33. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Enevoldsen B., Michelsen N., Friis-Hasché E., Kamper-Jørgensen F. Sociale klassifikationer. II. Svalastoga's inddeling efter social status rangorden og socialforskningsinstituttets socialgruppeinddeling. Ugeskr Laeger. 1980 Feb 18;142(8):544–550. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Farkas A. J., Pierce J. P., Zhu S. H., Rosbrook B., Gilpin E. A., Berry C., Kaplan R. M. Addiction versus stages of change models in predicting smoking cessation. Addiction. 1996 Sep;91(9):1271–1292. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Freund K. M., D'Agostino R. B., Belanger A. J., Kannel W. B., Stokes J., 3rd Predictors of smoking cessation: the Framingham Study. Am J Epidemiol. 1992 May 1;135(9):957–964. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a116407. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Hatziandreu E. J., Pierce J. P., Lefkopoulou M., Fiore M. C., Mills S. L., Novotny T. E., Giovino G. A., Davis R. M. Quitting smoking in the United States in 1986. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1990 Sep 5;82(17):1402–1406. doi: 10.1093/jnci/82.17.1402. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hymowitz N., Sexton M., Ockene J., Grandits G. Baseline factors associated with smoking cessation and relapse. MRFIT Research Group. Prev Med. 1991 Sep;20(5):590–601. doi: 10.1016/0091-7435(91)90057-b. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Lichtenstein E., Lando H. A., Nothwehr F. Readiness to quit as a predictor of smoking changes in the Minnesota Heart Health Program. Health Psychol. 1994 Sep;13(5):393–396. doi: 10.1037//0278-6133.13.5.393. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Más R., Escribà V., Colomer C. Who quits smoking during pregnancy? Scand J Soc Med. 1996 Jun;24(2):102–106. doi: 10.1177/140349489602400203. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Nielsen P. E., Sørensen J. F. Danskernes rygevaner 1988-1993. En opfølgning af tidligere befolkningsundersøgelser. Ugeskr Laeger. 1995 Jun 12;157(24):3451–3456. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Olsen J. Predictors of smoking cessation in pregnancy. Scand J Soc Med. 1993 Sep;21(3):197–202. doi: 10.1177/140349489302100309. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Osler M., Kirchhoff M. Smoking behaviour in Danish adults from 1982 to 1992. Public Health. 1995 Jul;109(4):245–250. doi: 10.1016/s0033-3506(95)80201-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Osler M., Rasmussen N. K., Lous J. Voksnes rygevaner--holdning og adfaerd i relation til forebyggelse af hjerte-kar-sygdomme. Ugeskr Laeger. 1992 Feb 24;154(9):543–548. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Patrick D. L., Cheadle A., Thompson D. C., Diehr P., Koepsell T., Kinne S. The validity of self-reported smoking: a review and meta-analysis. Am J Public Health. 1994 Jul;84(7):1086–1093. doi: 10.2105/ajph.84.7.1086. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Prochaska J. O., DiClemente C. C., Velicer W. F., Rossi J. S. Standardized, individualized, interactive, and personalized self-help programs for smoking cessation. Health Psychol. 1993 Sep;12(5):399–405. doi: 10.1037//0278-6133.12.5.399. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Severson H. H., Andrews J. A., Lichtenstein E., Wall M., Zoref L. Predictors of smoking during and after pregnancy: a survey of mothers of newborns. Prev Med. 1995 Jan;24(1):23–28. doi: 10.1006/pmed.1995.1004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Syme S. L., Alcalay R. Control of cigarette smoking from a social perspective. Annu Rev Public Health. 1982;3:179–199. doi: 10.1146/annurev.pu.03.050182.001143. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Tillgren P., Haglund B. J., Lundberg M., Romelsjö A. The sociodemographic pattern of tobacco cessation in the 1980s: results from a panel study of living condition surveys in Sweden. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1996 Dec;50(6):625–630. doi: 10.1136/jech.50.6.625. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Unger J. B. Stages of change of smoking cessation: relationships with other health behaviors. Am J Prev Med. 1996 Mar-Apr;12(2):134–138. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Waldron I. Patterns and causes of gender differences in smoking. Soc Sci Med. 1991;32(9):989–1005. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(91)90157-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Wisborg K., Henriksen T. B., Hedegaard M., Secher N. J. Rygevaner blandt gravide samt sociodemografiske faktorers betydning for rygeophør. Ugeskr Laeger. 1996 Jun 24;158(26):3784–3788. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Tobacco Control are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES