Smoking as a subjectively rational choice.

Abstract In order to identify variables which might influence adult smokers to attempt to give up smoking, questionnaires were distributed to a final sample of 45 public employees who were cigarette smokers. These offered subjects the chance to apply for treatment at a nearby smokers' clinic and also asked questions about their own smoking history, their perceived dependence on smoking, their perceptions of utilities associated with continuing smoking or attempting to stop smoking and succeeding or failing in the attempt. Of the 45 subjects, 18 chose to apply for treatment, and a discriminant analysis was performed to see if these could be distinguished from the 27 “non-choosers” in terms of their questionnaire responses. The most important predictor was the number of cigarettes smoked per day, with choosers on average smoking over 30 and non-choosers under 18 per day. In addition, choosers tended to be slightly older, and enjoy the activity of smoking less than non-choosers. Non-choosers, as compared with choosers, were relatively confident in their own ability to stop smoking without help, if they wanted to. Although subjects as a whole tended to rate the overall consequences of continuing to smoke as worse than the overall consequences of successfully stopping, this was not an important predictor of which subjects chose to apply for treatment.