Neighborhood Satisfaction and Smoking in France: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

While research shows that neighborhood and smoking are linked, most studies use objective measures of neighborhood quality. Evidence suggests residents with negative perceptions of their neighborhood are more likely to smoke and less likely to quit, but this topic remains unexamined in France, where smoking rates remain high.

We created a cross-sectional sample of 114,484 adults with smoking and neighborhood satisfaction data responding to the 2019 wave of Constances, a French national population-based cohort. We used logistic regression to estimate the odds of being a daily smoker by five levels of neighborhood satisfaction. Interactions with education level and gender were assessed.

We found evidence of an association between neighborhood satisfaction and smoking status, wherein those with lower satisfaction levels had higher odds of being daily smokers. The results of our multivariate-adjusted model show the highest odds of smoking among "Unsatisfied" neighborhood residents with on average 1.24 (95% CI 1.07-1.44) higher odds of being a daily smoker compared to those who were "Very satisfied." Stratified analyses suggested this association was stronger for men.

In the first study to examine neighborhood perceptions and smoking in France, we provide evidence for taking into account resident perceptions in neighborhood-based smoking interventions. Longitudinal research is needed to establish causal conclusions.