Smoking is Addictive but Quitting is Contagious

May 21, 2008 · 61 views · Filed Under General Health

Targeting groups is more effective in helping people to quit smoking, rather than working with individuals to stop cigarette smoking.

Over the last 30 years, the number of smokers in the U.S. has steadily decreased - a tribute to the efforts of public-health workers everywhere. And while this fact is unarguable, less obvious are the social and cultural forces that lead an individual to kick the habit. In fact, when someone crumbles that last empty pack of their favorite unfiltered brand and vows to never buy another, he might not realize that he is less like the heroic individual grasping his own boot straps and more like a single bird whose sudden left turn is just one speck in the larger flock.

These are the findings of a massive longitudinal study spanning 32 years: people quit smoking in droves. Through reconstructing the social network of 12,067 individuals, researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Diego have discovered that smoking cessation occurs in network clusters and is hardly the isolated decision it might feel like to the individual quitter.

Full Story: Smoking is Addictive but Quitting is Contagious
Source: Harvard University

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