世論 What Japan Thinks

Not having smoked, I cannot really relate to the answers in this survey from DIMSDRIVE Reseach into smoking and non-smoking, but I do have experience of quitting alcohol (well, at least going from a daily habit to once in a blue moon) with cold turkey and lots of water only.

Demographics

Between the 25th of November and the 10th of December 2009 (the reporting is rather slow!) 9,638 members of the DIMSDRIVE monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 51.3% of the sample were male, 11.5% in their twenties, 32.8% in their thirties, 31.3% in their forties, 16.7% in their fifties, and 7.7% aged sixty or older. In addition, 64.0% were married, and 52.4% of the total sample had children.

Q1B at a first look appears to be contradictory to common sense, with men with children more likely to smoke than those with no children, but for women the position is reversed. However, for men this is probably explained by smokers being older, with the non-smoking message getting through to the younger generation who are in turn less likely to have had children yet. For women, the opposite trend is present – the younger generation is smoking more, plus of course as in Q7, getting pregnant or having children is an incentive for women to quit.

Research results

Q1A: Do you smoke? (Sample size=9,638)

	All	Male N=4,943	Female N=4,695
Currently smoke	27.6%	36.0%	18.8%
Used to smoke	20.3%	24.9%	15.4%
Never smoked	52.1%	39.1%	65.8%

As men got older the number of quitters increased, but for women the peak of smokers plus quitters was in their thirties. From forties and older the number of both current and ex-smokers decreased.

Q1B: Do you smoke? (Sample size=9,638)

	Male, children N=2,543	Male, no children N=2,400	Female, children N=2,503	Female, no children N=2,192
Currently smoke	38.2%	33.7%	17.5%	20.2%
Used to smoke	30.0%	19.6%	17.1%	13.5%
Never smoked	31.8%	46.7%	65.4%	66.3%

Q2: How many cigarettes do you smoke per day? (Sample size=2,660, current smokers)

Less than one	1.5%
One to five	7.6%
Six to ten	18.0%
Eleven to twenty	48.6%
Twenty-one to forty	21.4%
Forty-one to sixty	2.8%
More than sixty	0.1%

Older men were heavier smokers, with just 14% of those in their twenties getting through more than a packet a day, versus 41% of the over sixties. Furthermore, the longer the habit, the more people smoked; only 10% of those five years into it smoked more than a pack a day, whereas about 40% of those with more than thirty years under their belt went through a pack per day.

Q3: If there was an easy way to quit, would you want to quit smoking? (Sample size=2,660, current smokers)

Would want to quit	54.9%
Wouldn’t want to quit	27.5%
Can’t say either way	17.6%

More women than men would want to quit, but there was no particular trend by age.

Q4: Have you ever tried to quit smoking? (Sample size=2,660, current smokers)

Yes	49.2%
No	50.8%

Q4SQ: How many times have you tried to quit smoking? (Sample size=xxx, current smokers)

Once	27.6%
Twice	31.7%
Thrice	20.8%
Four times	2.8%
Five to nine times	10.9%
Ten or more times	6.2%

Q5: How long is it since you quit smoking? (Sample size=1,958, ex-smokers)

Less than a year	9.1%
One year	3.5%
Two years	7.1%
Three years	7.8%
Four years	3.7%
Five years	7.3%
Six or seven years	7.5%
Eight or nine years	5.0%
Ten to fourteen years	12.2%
Fifteen to nineteen years	7,8%
Twenty to twenty-nine years	11.6%
Thirty years or more	4.9%
Don’t know, don’t remember	12.7%

Q6: Do you think you have succeeded in quitting smoking? (Sample size=1,958, ex-smokers)

Yes	89.4%
Not yet	7.9%
Don’t know	2.7%

Q7: What caused you to try to stop smoking? (Sample size=1,958, ex-smokers, multiple answer)

Thought about future health	36.1%
Got ill	22.7%
Partner, spouse said I should	11.4%
Financial issues other than price rises	10.6%
Price rises	10.2%
Advice from doctor	6.8%
Got pregnant	6.8%
Family said I should	6.0%
Had children	5.6%
Got married	4.5%
Wanted to get pregnant	4.5%
Work went non-smoking	2.1%
Other	11.2%
No particular reason	12.8%

Q8: How are you trying, did you try to quit smoking? (Sample size=1,310 + 1,958, trying to quit + ex-smokers, multiple answer)

	Smokers N=1,310	Ex-smokers N=1,958
Cold turkey	65.0%	50.1%
Suck sweets, chew gum	37.5%	19.5%
Slowly decrease how much I smoke	33.7%	14.9%
Declared my intention to people around me	19.9%	3.7%
Used a no smoking pipe	18.2%	3.1%
Slowly reduced my nicotine, tar intake	13.9%	10.3%
Used nicotine gum	13.4%	3.9%
Drank lots of water	9.6%	6.4%
Threw out all my smoking paraphernalia	9.5%	2.1%
Used nicotine patch	7.3%	4.7%
Saved money I would have spent on cigarettes	5.1%	0.5%
Treated myself	4.7%	2.6%
Used electric tobacco	3.6%	2.7%
Got treatment at hospital	2.1%	1.4%
Penalised myself for smoking	1.8%	0.6%
Attended non-smoking therapy, training classes	1.0%	0.6%
Other	5.4%	21.7%

Q9: When do you feel your defences weakening? (Sample size=1,958, ex-smokers, multiple answer)

When drinking alcohol	41.7%
When irritated	28.2%
After meals	23.8%
When people around me are smoking	19.0%
When I’ve time to kill	13.3%
When drinking coffee	12.9%
While working	5.9%
When out by myself at a restaurant, cafe	5.3%
When I see tobacco (at a vending machine, etc)	3.7%
When sitting in a smoking section	2.9%
When talking about smoking	1.7%
While reading	1.1%
In the toilet	0.7%
Other	4.5%
No particular time	29.2%

Q10: Do you still have times when you want to smoke? (Sample size=1,958, ex-smokers)

Often	3.0%
Sometimes	30.6%
Never	66.4%

Q11: If a pack of cigarettes go above what price would you definitely quit smoking? (Sample size=2,660, smokers)

300 yen or less	2.5%
301 to 349 yen	0.6%
350 yen	1.9%
351 to 399 yen	0.3%
400 yen	6.4%
401 to 499 yen	0.5%
500 yen	34.8%
51 to 599 yen	0.5%
600 yen	8.8%
601 to 699 yen	0.2%
700 yen	1.5%
701 to 799 yen	0.0%
800 yen	3.2%
801 to 999 yen	0.2%
1,000 yen	22.3%
1,001 to 1,499 yen	0.3%
1,500 yen or more	5.0%
Won’t quit regardless of price	10.8%