Reasons for wanting to quit: ethnic differences among cessation-seeking adolescent smokers

Enhancing adolescent cessation requires an understanding of approaches that will motivate youths to quit smoking.

We compared reasons for wanting to quit expressed by European Americans to those of African American youths. Adolescent cessation-seeking smokers completed telephone interviews regarding their smoking behavior and reasons for wanting to quit in an open-ended format. Responses were then classified into nine categories.

Participants included 1,268 Baltimore-area adolescents (mean age 15.6 +/-1.7 years, 60% female, 58% European American, mean Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence 5.8 +/- 2.2). While both groups broadly cited health as the predominant reason for wanting to quit, chi-square analyses of further stratification of health into general, future, and current health concerns showed that European Americans were more likely to endorse current health reasons (P<.001), while African Americans were more likely to state general health reasons (P=.004). European Americans were more likely to state cost (P=.002) or to not give a reason for wanting to quit (P=.008), while African Americans more frequently reported a lack of positive (pharmacologic or social) reinforcement (P<.001).

The development of culturally tailored messages may help enhance smoking cessation efforts among adolescents.