Very light smoking is becoming the trend among young adult women, a new study says. The prevalence of smoking and average cigarette smoking has decreased; however, the number of individuals engaged in very light smoking has shot up. Very light smoking is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as consuming 5 or fewer cigarettes per day. The new research investigates the distinctive features between psychosocial and sociodemographic elements linked to women about to enter the adulthood phase and are considered very light smokers or belong to different smoking classifications.
The researchers conducted the study by analyzing data from 9,789 women aged 18-25 years old, who answered surveys in the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health in the US. The variables set by the researchers for this investigation include social and demographic elements, psychological adaptation, inappropriate use of substances, smoking behaviors, daily smoking, age of first smoking and dependence to nicotine. The reference groups for the age, ethnicity, marital status, educational level and educational status variables were below 21 years of age, non-Hispanic white, never married, college graduate, and not currently enrolled in school respectively.
The researchers also included the following criteria-based diagnostic tools: the K6 screening instrument for nonspecific psychological distress to assess the participants' psychological sufferings during the past month, some questions from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM IV) to identify significant lifetime manifestations of depression and 17 questions from the Nicotine Dependence Syndrome Scale (NDSS) to investigate on 5 dependence parameters. The researchers also looked into the participants' perception regarding the health risks associated with smoking.
The findings of the study, published in Preventing Chronic Disease, found that 41.6 percent were never smokers, 28.2 percent were former smokers (did not smoke a cigarette in the last 30 days but reported smoking in the past) and 30.3 percent were current smokers. The researchers further classified the current smokers into very light smokers (smoked 5 cigarettes or less per day in the last 30 days), light smokers (smoked 6-16 cigarettes per day in the last 30 days) and heavier smokers (smoked more than 16 cigarettes per day in the last 30 days).
Never smokers were associated with lesser reports of lifetime depressive symptoms and past psychological burden than very light smokers, and are less likely to binge drink or resort to the use of illicit drugs. The same results were noted in former smokers, except for the lifetime depression reports. Individuals classified as very light, light and heavier smokers share the same findings in terms of probability of lifetime depression, psychological distress and use of illicit drugs in the past month.
In general, the findings yielded from this study showed a unique profile of women entering adulthood, who are very light smokers. This group was less likely to report nicotine dependence and is more likely to not smoke on a daily basis.
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