Smoking

Since the beginning of President Clinton's administration, the cigarette industry has been under a lot of pressure to change the way they do business, how they advertise. This study was not intended to be for or against the issue of smoking but to see which variable affects smoking after the consumer makes the adult decision to smoke. Three different econometric analyses were used to come up with these results; Logit, OLS and Linear Probability Model. The findings indicate that variables like income, pack per week smoked, age, years smoking and gender are significant in determining if an adult consumer continues to smoke. In addition, age, race, and years smoking are good indicators of whether a smoker is or is not price conscious. Years smoking, age, and education of a smoker's mother also have an effect on how much cigarettes an adult smoker consumes.

This descriptive comparative research study described the perceived susceptibility and seriousness of smoking-related diseases in young adults. In addition, the perceived benefits and barriers of young adults to quitting smoking were described. This study's framework was based on Rosenstock's Health Belief Model. A random sample of 264 students, ages 18-35, from a Southeastern university completed a 39-item questionnaire on the knowledge of the effects of smoking, perceived susceptibility and seriousness of smoking-related diseases, as well as the benefits and barriers to quitting smoking. There were significant differences between the smokers' and nonsmokers' responses in the following areas: knowledge of the effects of smoking, perceived seriousness of smoking-related diseases, as well as the benefits and barriers to quitting smoking. Smokers did not believe that smoking was as harmful as the nonsmokers believed it was. In the area of perceived susceptibility smokers and nonsmokers scored relatively similar scores.