世論 What Japan Thinks

goo Research recently released the results of a survey into smoking and health, a survey that was conducted last December.

Demographics

Between the 10th and 13th of December 2010 2,152 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.3% of the sample were male, 19.6% in their twenties, 19.9% in their thirties, 20.0% in their forties, 20.0% in their fifties, and 20.4% aged sixty or older.

About the only good news to come from the recent disaster is that many tobacco growers and factories have been knocked out, so a good number of brands are no longer available, and others are on short supply; indeed today I noticed in a convenience store that although the signs requesting people limit themselves to purchasing two bottles of water had disappeared, there was now a sign for only one packet of cigarettes per person.

Research results

Q1: Do you smoke? (Sample size=2,152)

	Smoker	Ex-smoker	Never smoked
All	19.8% (to SQ1)	22.3% (to SQ2)	57.9%
Men, twenties N=209	23.0%	10.5%	66.5%
Men, thirties N=212	26.4%	25.9%	47.6%
Men, forties N=216	28.2%	37.0%	34.7%
Men, fifties N=214	30.8%	36.0%	33.2%
Men, sixty plus N=218	24.8%	39.9%	35.3%
Women, twenties N=213	9.9%	12.2%	77.9%
Women, thirties N=216	15.7%	20.4%	63.9%
Women, forties N=215	19.5%	15.3%	65.1%
Women, fifties N=217	13.8%	13.8%	72.4%
Women, sixty plus N=222	6.8%	11.3%	82.0%

Q1SQ1: Do you want to quit smoking? (Sample size=427)

	Want to quit	Perhaps want to	Can’t say	Perhaps don’t want to	Don’t want to quit
All	24.8%	33.7%	25.5%	7.7%	8.2%
Men, twenties N=48	29.2%	29.2%	31.3%	6.3%	4.2%
Men, thirties N=56	21.4%	33.9%	28.6%	5.4%	10.7%
Men, forties N=61	19.7%	29.5%	27.9%	13.1%	9.8%
Men, fifties N=66	16.7%	42.4%	22.7%	10.6%	7.6%
Men, sixty plus N=54	27.8%	29.6%	22.2%	9.3%	11.0%
Women, twenties N=21	23.8%	33.3%	28.6%	4.8%	9.5%
Women, thirties N=34	35.3%	38.2%	14.7%	5.9%	5.9%
Women, forties N=42	26.2%	35.7%	28.6%	4.8%	4.8%
Women, fifties N=30	30.0%	33.3%	26.7%	3.3%	6.7%
Women, sixty plus N=15	33.3%	26.7%	20.0%	6.7%	13.3%

When the 250 people who said they wanted to or perhaps wanted to quit smoking were asked why, 46.4% said because it cost too much, another 46.4% said because it was bad for health, and the remaining 7.2% were split between because their lifestyle had changed, because society looked down on smokers, because they got sick or injured, because friends or family recommended, and a minor fraction had other reasons or just none in particular.

Q1SQ2: When did you smoking? (Sample size=479)

Stopped smoking before the 1st October 2010 price rise	94.4%
Continued smoking after the 1st October 2010 price rise, but stopped now	5.6%

Q2: Are you aware that tobacco is not good for your health? (Sample size=2,152)

	Aware	Somewhat aware	Can’t say	Not really aware	Unaware
All	70.7%	19.0%	4.3%	3.7%	2.3%
Smokers N=427	43.8%	37.5%	8.2%	6.1%	4.4%
Ex-smokers N=479	64.7%	21.5%	5.2%	5.0%	3.5%
Never smoked N=1,246	82.3%	11.6%	2.6%	2.3%	1.1%

Q3A: Do you normally pay attention to your own health? (Sample size=2,152)

	Pay lots of attention	Pay some attention	Can’t say	Pay little attention	Pay none at all
All	22.3%	56.6%	12.7%	6.9%	1.4%
Smokers N=427	14.1%	54.8%	18.3%	10.3%	2.6%
Ex-smokers N=479	24.2%	53.7%	12.7%	7.1%	2.3%
Never smoked N=1,246	24.4%	58.4%	10.8%	5.6%	0.7%

The following tabulates desire to quit versus paying attention to health, for smokers only.

Q3B: Do you normally pay attention to your own health? (Sample size=427, current smokers)

	Pay lots of attention	Pay some attention	Can’t say	Pay little attention	Pay none at all
Smokers N=427	14.1%	54.8%	18.3%	10.3%	2.6%
Want to quit N=106	29.2%	55.7%	6.6%	7.5%	0.9%
Perhaps want to N=144	9.7%	60.4%	22.9%	6.3%	0.7%
Can’t say N=109	4.6%	51.4%	27.5%	11.9%	4.6%
Perhaps don’t want to N=33	15.2%	60.6%	12.1%	12.1%	0.0%
Don’t want to quit N=35	14.3%	34.3%	11.4%	28.6%	11.4%