Table 2.
Strength of non-smoking norms held by the general population of adults, past-year smokers, and current smokers in England.
| Whole sample (n = 1,516) |
Non-smokers (1) (n = 1,206) |
Past-year smokersa (2) (n = 308) |
Current smokers (3) (n = 281) |
p (2) vs. (1) |
p (3) vs. (1) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descriptive norms | ||||||
| Number of close personal connections who smoke, % (n) | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| 0. 5 – all of them | 4.6 (70) | 2.9 (35) | 11.6 (35) | 12.4 (34) | — | — |
| 1. 4 | 5.5 (83) | 3.5 (43) | 12.5 (38) | 12.9 (35) | — | — |
| 2. 3 | 12.6 (191) | 9.8 (119) | 24.2 (73) | 25.0 (69) | — | — |
| 3. 2 | 15.6 (238) | 14.9 (181) | 18.8 (57) | 18.1 (50) | — | — |
| 4. 1 | 21.9 (334) | 23.0 (280) | 18.0 (54) | 17.8 (49) | — | — |
| 5. 0 – none of them | 39.8 (605) | 45.9 (559) | 14.9 (45) | 13.8 (38) | — | — |
| Witnessed commonality of smoking, % (n) | 0.171 | 0.151 | ||||
| 0. Very common | 17.1 (261) | 17.1 (208) | 17.5 (53) | 16.1 (44) | — | — |
| 1. Common | 49.7 (756) | 49.7 (604) | 50.0 (150) | 50.1 (138) | — | — |
| 2. Neither common nor uncommon | 17.3 (264) | 16.4 (200) | 20.2 (61) | 21.2 (58) | — | — |
| 3. Uncommon | 14.4 (219) | 15.2 (185) | 11.3 (34) | 11.6 (32) | — | — |
| 4. Very uncommon | 1.5 (22) | 1.6 (20) | 0.9 (3) | 0.9 (3) | — | — |
| Composite score (0–4.5)b, mean (SD) | 2.49 (0.94) | 2.62 (0.89) | 1.96 (0.97) | 1.94 (0.98) | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Injunctive norms | ||||||
| Partner’s approvalc, % (n) | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| 0. Strongly approve | 0.8 (11) | 0.5 (6) | 1.9 (5) | 2.1 (5) | — | — |
| 1. Approve | 7.0 (92) | 4.6 (49) | 17.1 (43) | 17.8 (41) | — | — |
| 2. Neither approve nor disapprove | 18.2 (241) | 12.0 (129) | 43.1 (108) | 43.1 (98) | — | — |
| 3. Disapprove | 30.3 (403) | 31.8 (341) | 24.5 (61) | 24.8 (56) | — | — |
| 4. Strongly disapprove | 43.8 (581) | 51.0 (548) | 13.3 (33) | 12.2 (28) | — | — |
| Family’s approval, % (n) | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| 0. Strongly approve | 0.7 (10) | 0.3 (4) | 2.2 (6) | 2.3 (6) | — | — |
| 1. Approve | 5.0 (77) | 3.5 (43) | 11.3 (34) | 12.2 (33) | — | — |
| 2. Neither approve nor disapprove | 17.7 (269) | 12.2 (148) | 38.8 (117) | 41.1 (113) | — | — |
| 3. Disapprove | 33.9 (516) | 34.1 (415) | 33.6 (101) | 32.0 (88) | — | — |
| 4. Strongly disapprove | 42.7 (649) | 49.9 (607) | 14.1 (42) | 12.4 (34) | — | — |
| Friends’ approval, % (n) | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| 0. Strongly approve | 0.8 (12) | 0.6 (7) | 1.8 (5) | 1.9 (5) | — | — |
| 1. Approve | 7.5 (114) | 4.9 (59) | 18.3 (55) | 18.6 (51) | — | — |
| 2. Neither approve nor disapprove | 31.5 (479) | 23.5 (286) | 62.8 (189) | 64.4 (177) | — | — |
| 3. Disapprove | 31.4 (477) | 36.1 (439) | 12.5 (37) | 11.2 (31) | — | — |
| 4. Strongly disapprove | 28.8 (438) | 34.9 (425) | 4.7 (14) | 3.9 (11) | — | — |
| Approval of people in general, % (n) | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| 0. Strongly approve | 0.8 (12) | 0.6 (7) | 1.6 (5) | 1.8 (5) | — | — |
| 1. Approve | 7.2 (110) | 6.5 (79) | 10.3 (31) | 10.3 (28) | — | — |
| 2. Neither approve nor disapprove | 23.6 (359) | 20.0 (244) | 36.9 (111) | 37.7 (104) | — | — |
| 3. Disapprove | 54.2 (825) | 57.3 (697) | 42.7 (128) | 42.3 (116) | — | — |
| 4. Strongly disapprove | 14.2 (215) | 15.6 (190) | 8.4 (25) | 8.0 (22) | — | — |
| Composite score (0–4)b, mean (SD) | 2.93 (0.75) | 3.09 (0.69) | 2.31 (0.67) | 2.27 (0.66) | <0.001 | <0.001 |
| Personal norms | ||||||
| Would you…, % (n) | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| 0. Only live with a smoker | 1.4 (21) | 1.3 (16) | 1.7 (5) | 1.9 (5) | ||
| 1. Prefer smoker consider non-smoker | 1.9 (29) | 1.3 (16) | 4.5 (13) | 4.9 (13) | — | — |
| 2. No preference between smokers and non-smokers | 23.8 (362) | 12.5 (152) | 68.7 (206) | 70.3 (194) | — | — |
| 3. Prefer non-smoker consider smoker | 15.7 (239) | 16.3 (198) | 13.6 (41) | 12.4 (34) | — | — |
| 4. Only live with a non-smoker | 57.1 (869) | 68.6 (835) | 11.5 (35) | 10.5 (29) | — | — |
| Score (0–4)b, mean (SD) | 3.25 (0.97) | 3.50 (0.86) | 2.29 (0.79) | 2.25 (0.78) | <0.001 | <0.001 |
Note: Weighted data.
aIncludes current smokers and those who quit in the past year. N = 2 were excluded because of missing data on past-year quit attempts; thus, the number of non-smokers and past-year smokers does not sum exactly to the number of participants in the whole sample.
bHigher scores indicate stronger non-smoking norms. The range of possible scores is given in parentheses.
cValid percentages shown, since some respondents did not have a partner (n = 206 in whole sample).