Blue-collar workers report less peer pressure to quit smoking

“Blue-collar workers appear to reside in occupational environments less supportive of quitting smoking, as indicated by the fact that they report less pressure to quit smoking and less social support to quit than do other workers,” says lead author Glorian Sorensen, Ph.D., M.P.H., of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The study is published in the January issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.

Blue-collar workers reported just as many expected social benefits from quitting, such as being rewarded by coworkers for not smoking, as did white-collar workers, but white-collar workers reported more encouragement from coworkers to quit in the first place.

The study data were based on interviews with 2,626 smokers from 44 companies in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. All of the companies were participants in the Working Well Trial, a randomized-controlled study of a work-site cancer prevention program. Blue-collar workers were considered line and factory workers, while white-collar workers were clerical and management employees.

Social pressure and social support were also found to be associated with intention to quit as well as the belief that a quit attempt could be successful.

However, these social influences translated into a slight, but not statistically significant, difference between blue-collar and white-collar workers in successful quit rates during the study period. This finding may have been due to fluctuations in social influences over time, a variable that could not be measured in this study.

These study results complement the recent Public Health Service guideline that identifies social support as an effective component of smoking cessation intervention, say the researchers.

The study was supported with grants from the National Cancer Institute and the Liberty Mutual Group.

The American Journal of Health Promotion is a bimonthly peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the field of health promotion. For information about the journal call (248) 682-0707 or visit the journal’s website at www.healthpromotionjournal.com.