Women’s Health and Smoking

1.Factors Influencing Tobacco Use Among Women
Cigarette smoking was rare among women in the early 20th century. Cigarette smoking became prevalent among women after it did among men, and smoking prevalence has always been lower among women than among men. However, the gender-specific difference in smoking prevalence narrowed between 1965 and 1985. Since 1985, the decline in prevalence among men and women has been comparable.
Smoking prevalence decreased among women from 33.9% in 1965 to 22.0% in 1998. Most of this decline occurred from 1974 through 1990; prevalence declined very little from 1992 through 1998.
The prevalence of current smoking is three times higher among women with 9-11 years of education (32.9%) than among women with 16 or more years of education (11.2%).
Smoking prevalence is higher among women living below the poverty level (29.6%) than among those living at or above the poverty level (21.6%).
Girls who initiate smoking are more likely than those who do not smoke to have parents or friends who smoke. They also tend to have weaker attachments to parents and family and stronger attachments to peers and friends. …