Smoking Social Norms Among Young Adults in New York City

More than half of young adult (YA) (ages 18-26) smokers are non-daily smokers. While standard cessation methods are generally successful with adults and daily smokers, there is evidence that they are not as successful among non-daily smokers or young adults. Additionally, YA smokers are also in a transition period to regular smoking, making research on understanding how interpersonal and environmental factors affect this group of smokers critical. Randomized time location sampling was used to create a sample of New York City YA bar patrons between June and November 2013, who completed a self-administered survey (1,916 surveys). Questions were asked about perceived smoking social norms, stigma, behaviors, and demographics. Overall, almost half of the YA reported being current smokers (44.1%); one-third were non-daily smokers (36.7%) and less than ten percent were daily smokers (7.4%). Non-daily smokers compared with daily smokers had greater odds of believing New Yorkers disapproved of smoking [adjusted odds ratio (OR_adj 1.76, 95 % CI 1.10-2.79)], keeping tobacco a secret from certain people (OR_adj 1.84, 1.14-2.96) and feeling guilty when smoking (OR_adj: 2.54; 1.45-4.45). Non-daily smokers had 41% lower odds of reporting how people who are important to you disapproved of smoking than daily smokers (OR_adj: 0.59; 0.38-0.94). Further studies of interpersonal/environmental factors among YA smokers may support modifications to cessation programs that result in more successful YA quit attempts.