A just-released survey on tobacco habits and attitudes in the US has found that most college graduates have never tried a cigarette.
This is one of the findings of a national poll of more than 1,000 US American adults conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of Swedish Match, a Sweden-based tobacco company that is advocating a world without cigarettes.
The survey found that 21 percent of US Americans said they were current smokers, with 23 percent declaring that they had quit the habit and 42 percent replying that they had never had a cigarette, a figure that jumps to 54 percent among college graduates.
Only 12 percent of those who completed college said they smoked.
The highest rates of smoking were among 18-34-year-olds (23 percent), just ahead of 35-54-year-olds (22 percent) and much higher than those 55 and older (17 percent).
Among those who quit smoking, 56 percent said they did so due to health fears, while 32 percent said they gave up cigarettes because of their price.
Smokers are largely transparent about their tobacco use. Only 15 percent of those who do or did smoke said they hid/hide the habit from their co-workers, though among 18-34 year-old smokers this percentage rises to 36 percent.
“This survey underscores the significant generational and educational differences in Americans’ attitudes toward smoking,” said Chris Lemmon, senior brand manager at Swedish Match.
“Curiously, the smoking rates among Millennials – the generation that has grown up with anti-smoking messages – are actually higher than [among] older age groups, and yet one in three of them hide their cigarette use at work, which likely speaks to the stigma still associated with smoking.”
Meanwhile, attitudes toward electronic cigarettes seem to be evolving. While 58 percent of smokers surveyed said that there was no stigma associated with electronic cigarette use, 37 percent of smokers said they didn’t use electronic cigarettes because their health impacts were still unknown. Another 18 percent of smokers believed electronic cigarettes were just a fad.
Twenty eight percent of the smokers surveyed said they used electronic cigarettes.