Who kicks the habit and how they do it: Socioeconomic differences across methods of quitting smoking in the USA

Although the prevalence of smoking has declined among US adults, an estimated 22.5% of the adult population (45.8 million adults) regularly smoked in 2002. Starting from this level, it will not be possible to achieve the Healthy People national health objectives of a reduction in the prevalence of smoking among adults to less than 12% by 2010 unless the rate of smoking cessation substantially rises from its current average of about 2.5%/year. To achieve that goal it is imperative that we better understand what factors are associated with successful quitting so that policies and resources can be better targeted. We describe the socioeconomic characteristics of smokers who attempt to and successfully quit and show how those characteristics differ across three methods they use in their cessation behavior. The results highlight socioeconomic differences across the methods smokers use and provide evidence that can be used to better target smoking cessation information and resources to smokers most likely to use particular methods. Better targeting is likely to lead to more quits. While it is unlikely that cessation rates can be raised by enough to achieve the reduction in national smoking prevalence that the Healthy People initiative has set, a better understanding of who chooses which method will move us closer to that goal.