Table 2.
HINTS-FDA 2015 nicotine and low nicotine cigarette belief item responses by smoking status.
| Never smoker n = 2041 |
Smokera, intends to quit n = 305 |
Smokera, not quitting n = 174 |
Recent quitter n = 49 |
Established quitter n = 1045 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicotine beliefs | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | ||
| Addictiveness: nicotine is the main substance in tobacco that makes people want to smoke | |||||||
| Correct (strongly agree + agree) | 83 (79, 86) | 86 (76, 92) | 89 (79, 95) | 93 (81, 98) | 85 (80, 89) | ||
| Incorrect (strongly disagree + disagree) | 3 (2,5) | 8 (3,19) | 5 (2,9) | 4 (1, 17) | 5 (3, 89) | ||
| Unsure | 14 (11,18) | 7 (3, 17) | 6 (2,19) | 3 (0, 24) | 10 (6, 14) | ||
| Cancer: the nicotine in cigarettes is the substance that causes most of the cancer caused by smoking | |||||||
| Correct (strongly disagree + disagree) | 24 (21,28) | 35 (26, 46) | 37 (25,50) | 28 (9, 62) | 32 (27, 38) | ||
| Incorrect (strongly agree + agree) | 50 (46, 53) | 48 (37, 5) | 38 (27, 49) | 64 (29, 89) | 44 (39, 49) | ||
| Unsureb | 26 (23, 30) | 17 (8, 30) | 26 (16, 39) | 7 (2, 20) | 24 (19, 29) | ||
| M (SE) | M (SE) | M (SE) | M (SE) | M (SE) | |||
| Low nicotine cigarette beliefs | 95% CI | 95% C | 95% CI | 95% CI | 95% CI | ||
| Harm: compared to a typical cigarette, would you think that a cigarette advertised as “low nicotine” would be…much less/ much more harmful than a typical cigaretteb |
2.73 (0.03) | 2.65 (0.08) | 2.70 (0.10) | 2.74 (0.21) | 2.87 (0.03) | ||
| 2.67, 2.80 | 2.49, 2.82 | 2.50, 2.90 | 2.31, 3.17 | 2.81, 2.94 | |||
| Addictiveness: compared to a typical cigarette, would you think that a cigarette advertised as “low nicotine” would be…much less/much more addictive than a typical cigarettec |
2.79 (0.03) | 2.75 (0.06) | 2.780 (0.08) | 2.86 (0.25) | 2.79 (0.03) | ||
| 2.72, 2.85 | 2.63, 2.87 | 2.63, 2.96 | 2.37, 2.36 | 2.74, 2.85 | |||
Notes. All percentages are adjusted for sex, age (18–24; 25–44; 45–64; 65+), race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and education. Sample size is small for recent quitters (n = 49) and statistics should be interpreted with caution.
Current smokers who smoked at least 100 lifetime cigarettes and were currently smoking every day or some days.
Response options ranged from 1 (Much less harmful to your health than a typical cigarette) to 5 (Much more harmful to your health than a typical cigarette), with a midpoint of 3 (Equally harmful to your health).
Response options ranged from 1 (Much less addictive than a typical cigarette) to 5 (Much more addictive than a typical cigarette), with a midpoint of 3 (Equally addictive).