Table 2.
Smokers’ and Nonsmokers’ Perceptions of the Acceptability of Female Smoking and Smoking in General (Weighted)
| Measure | Wave 1 Smokers (n=4732) | Wave 2 Smokers (n=4843) | Wave 3 Smokers (n=5583) | Wave 3 Non-Smokers (n=1417) |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | |||||||||
| All | Male | Female | All | Male | Female | All | Male | Female | All | Male | Female | |
| Female smoking is acceptable | ||||||||||||
| Agree | 33.1 (1591) | 31.9 (1449) | 60.3 (231) | 37.2 (1739) | 35.8 (1577) | 66.9 (162) | 37.5 (2044) | 36.2 (1843) | 67.1 (201) | 9.1 (117) | 5.7 (37) | 10.8 (80) |
| Neither | 14.8 (690) | 14.6 (657) | 17.6 (33) | 9.9 (496) | 10.1 (477) | 6.3 (19) | 10.2 (592) | 10.2 (562) | 9.2 (30) | 6.7 (99) | 8.6 (43) | 5.8 (56) |
| Disagree | 52.1 (2451) | 53.4 (2395) | 22.2 (56) | 52.9 (2592) | 54.1 (2522) | 26.7 (70) | 52.3 (2924) | 53.6 (2861) | 23.7 (63) | 84.2 (1200) | 85.7 (466) | 83.4 (734) |
| Significance Test | χ2=43.47(2), p<.001 | χ2=65.6(2), p<.001 | χ2=51.76(2), p<.001 | χ2=7.04(2), p<.05 | ||||||||
| Chinese society’s attitude toward smoking | ||||||||||||
| Society supports smoking | 6.2 (273) | 6.3 (265) | 3.3 (8) | 7.2 (307) | 7.3 (294) | 6.1 (13) | 7.3 (410) | 7.6 (401) | 2.4 (9) | 5.9 (73) | 7.7 (35) | 4.9 (38) |
| Neither | 34.3 (1558) | 34.7 (1505) | 24.1 (53) | 30.7 (1380) | 30.7 (1310) | 29.8 (70) | 39.1 (2142) | 39.2 (2049) | 35.8 (93) | 25.2 (349) | 27.3 (160) | 24.0 (189) |
| Society disapproves | 59.5 (2668) | 58.9 (2517) | 72.5 (151) | 62.1 (2989) | 62.0 (2830) | 64.0 (159) | 53.5 (2869) | 53.2 (2697) | 61.8 (172) | 68.9 (955) | 64.9 (342) | 71.0 (613) |
| Significance Test | χ2=12.41(2), p<.01 | χ2=0.47(2), p=0.79 | χ2=10.04(2), p<.01 | χ2=4.69(2), p=.10 | ||||||||
| People important to you don’t want you to smoke | ||||||||||||
| Disagree | 14.5 (648) | 13.7 (609) | 18.3 (39) | 13.0 (595) | 12.7 (555) | 19.7 (40) | 11.6 (647) | 11.1 (587) | 22.4 (60) | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Neither | 10.0 (485) | 9.4 (448) | 14.1 (37) | 6.1 (312) | 5.9 (282) | 11.7 (30) | 5.2 (312) | 5.0 (286) | 8.4 (26) | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Agree | 75.6 (3599) | 75.9 (3444) | 67.6 (155) | 80.8 (3933) | 81.4 (3749) | 68.6 (184) | 83.2 (4621) | 83.9 (4410) | 69.2 (211) | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Significance Test | χ2=4.64(2), p=.10 | χ2=15.14(2), p<.001 | χ2=27.48(2), p<.001 | |||||||||
| Smoking is a sign of sophistication | ||||||||||||
| Agree | 22.4 (990) | 22.3 (937) | 22.6 (53) | 29.5 (1325) | 29.5 (1255) | 28.2 (70) | 30.3 (1585) | 30.5 (1503) | 25.5 (82) | 6.6 (92) | 6.3 (37) | 6.7 (55) |
| Neither | 13.0 (645) | 12.9 (609) | 15.4 (36) | 8.4 (425) | 8.4 (403) | 7.4 (22) | 8.9 (557) | 9.0 (530) | 7.8 (27) | 8.2 (108) | 12.4 (54) | 6.0 (54) |
| Disagree | 64.6 (3097) | 64.7 (2955) | 62.1 (142) | 62.1 (3090) | 62.0 (2928) | 64.3 (162) | 60.8 (3438) | 60.5 (3250) | 66.6 (188) | 85.3 (1217) | 81.4 (456) | 87.3 (761) |
| Significance Test | χ2=0.65(2), p=.72 | χ2=0.50(2), p=.78 | χ2=2.95(2), p=.23 | χ2=8.84(2), p<.05 | ||||||||
| Overall opinion of smoking | ||||||||||||
| Good | 9.2 (436) | 9.2 (417) | 8.6 (19) | 7.9 (387) | 8.0 (368) | 6.9 (19) | 7.7 (430) | 7.7 (401) | 9.7 (29) | 3.7 (57) | 3.5 (17) | 3.8 (40) |
| Neither | 37.8 (1807) | 38.2 (1740) | 28.8 (67) | 39.8 (1923) | 40.1 (1840) | 33.3 (83) | 36.5 (2112) | 36.9 (2024) | 27.4 (88) | 8.1 (122) | 12.2 (63) | 5.9 (59) |
| Bad | 53.0 (2489) | 52.6 (2344) | 62.6 (145) | 52.2 (2530) | 51.9 (2378) | 59.8 (152) | 55.7 (3038) | 55.4 (2858) | 62.9 (180) | 88.2 (1238) | 84.4 (467) | 90.2 (771) |
| Significance Test | χ2=7.98(2), p<.05 | χ2=3.17(2), p=.20 | χ2=7.85(2), p<.05 | χ2=10.30(2), p<.01 | ||||||||
Notes: Percentages in each category may not add up to 100 due to rounding. Responses of “don’t know” to any of the above questions ranged from 0.7% to 4.7% (average 2.3%) and were coded as “missing”. Percentages for “agree” include “strongly agree” and “disagree” includes “strongly disagree”. The variable “people important to you don’t want you to smoke” was not asked of non-smokers. The significance test is the Rao-Scott chi-square test of differences between males and females for each response variable.