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Individual’s chance of smoking decreased if family, friends stop
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An analysis of social networks during more than three decades confirmed that smoking behaviors and cessation spread through close and distant social ties.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School and University of California, San Diego examined the person-to-person spread of smoking behaviors and cessation among a densely interconnected social network of 12,067 individuals. The sample was part of the Framingham Heart Study population. Individuals were repeatedly assessed from 1971 to 2003.
Discernible clusters of smokers and nonsmokers were present and extended to three degrees of separation, according to the study. The prevalence of smoking decreased from 1971 to 2003; however, the size of the clusters of smokers was unchanged. This finding suggests that groups of people were quitting smoking simultaneously, according to the researchers.
Smoking cessation by family and friends was influential. An individual’s chance of smoking decreased by 67% if a spouse stopped smoking, 25% if a sibling stopped, 36% if a friend stopped and 34% if a coworker stopped. Higher education level was also a strong influence compared with individuals with a lower education level. – by Katie Kalvaitis
N Engl J Med. 2008;358:2249-2258.