Table 1.

Description of the samples.

Characteristic	Recanting of Ever-smoking		Time since Smoking Cessation		Age of Onset of Regular Smoking
	Count	%	Count	%	Count	%
Race/ethnicity
Hispanic	1,079	11.92	69	4.38	176	5.72
NH Black	1,245	76.44	2,418	89.27	4,688	86.08
NH White	12,716	11.65	123	6.35	295	8.20
Age
15-35	3,729	32.35	216	10.07	902	22.33
36-45	3,237	20.38	422	16.63	1,097	20.59
46-55	3,110	18.52	641	23.35	1,272	22.82
56+	4,964	28.74	1,331	49.95	1,888	34.26
Gender
Male	6,182	43.07	1,307	52.03	2,479	50.44
Female	8,858	56.93	1,303	47.97	2,680	49.56
Highest level of education completed
High school or less	7,278	49.77	1,222	46.19	2,687	52.37
More than high school	7,762	50.23	1,388	53.81	2,472	47.63
Employment Status
Employed–at work	9,066	59.97	1,451	55.44	3,151	61.37
Other (employed–absent, unemployed or not in labor force)	5,974	40..03	1,159	44.55	2,008	38.63
Metropolitan Status
Metropolitan	10,791	78.77	1,875	78.61	3,647	77.18
Non-metropolitan	4,249	21.23	735	21.39	1,512	22.82
Region
Northeast	3,166	18.02	660	21.67	1,172	19.29
Midwest	4,169	24.13	709	25.33	1,473	26.22
South	4,385	36.46	658	31.80	1,407	33.92
West	3,320	21.38	583	21.20	1,107	20.57
Interview Method*
Phone both times	8,466	54.34	1,573	58.88	2,995	56.51
In-person both times	3,547	24.76	573	22.71	1,191	23.87
Mixed	3,027	20.90	459	18.41	973	19.62
Recent quitting indicator*
Recent quitter			518	22.09
Non-recent quitter			2,092	77.91
Current Smoking Status
Current smoker					2,390	47.32
Former smoker					2,768	52.68

^*Mixed interview method refers to interviews conducted once by phone and once in-person; recent quitters are former smokers who quit smoking 5 years ago or less and non-recent quitters are former smokers who quit smoking more than 5 years ago.