RESEARCH PAPER

Individual-level predictors of cessation behaviours among participants in the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey

A Hyland¹, R Borland², Q Li¹, H-H Yong², A McNeill³, G T Fong⁴, R J O’Connor¹, K M Cummings¹

¹ Department of Health Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, New York, USA
² Cancer Control Research Institute, The Cancer Council Victoria, Carlton, Victoria, Australia
³ Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, UK
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
K Michael Cummings
PhD, MPH, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Department of Health Behavior, Elm and Carlton Streets, Buffalo, NY 14263, USA; michael.cummings{at}roswellpark.org

Background: The International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey (ITC-4) is a prospective cohort study designed to evaluate the psychosocial and behavioural impact of national-level tobacco control policies enacted in the Australia, Canada, the UK, and the USA. Wave 1 of ITC-4 survey was conducted between October 2002 and December 2002. Wave 2 survey was conducted between May 2003 and August 2003.

Objective: To test for individual-level predictors of smoking cessation behaviours (that is, quit attempts and smoking cessation) among cigarette smokers in the ITC Four Country Study measured between Wave 1 and Wave 2. This set of predictors will serve as the base for evaluating the added effect of tobacco control policies and other factors.

Methods: Respondents included in this study are 6682 adult current smokers in the Wave 1 main survey who completed the Wave 2 follow-up (1665 were in Canada, 1329 were in the USA, 1837 were in the UK and 1851 were in Australia).

Results: Factors predictive of making a quit attempt included intention to quit, making a quit attempt in the previous year, longer duration of past quit attempts, less nicotine dependence, more negative attitudes about smoking, and younger age. Lower levels of nicotine dependence were the main factor that predicted future cessation among those that made a quit attempt.

Conclusion: Intention to quit and other cognitive variables were associated with quit attempts, but not cessation. Behavioural variables related to task difficulty, including measures of dependence, predicted both making attempts and their success. Predictors of making quit attempts and cessation were similar for each of the four countries, but there were some differences in predictors of success.

Abbreviations: CPD, cigarettes per day; HSI, heaviness of smoking index; ITC-4, International Tobacco Control Four Country Survey

Keywords: cessation; cohort; international

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Amodei, N., Lamb, R. J. (2009). The role of nicotine replacement therapy in early quitting success. Nicotine Tob Res 0: ntp164v1-ntp164 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Burkhalter, J. E., Warren, B., Shuk, E., Primavera, L., Ostroff, J. S. (2009). Intention to quit smoking among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender smokers. Nicotine Tob Res 11: 1312-1320 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Martinez-Sanchez, J. M., Fernandez, E., Fu, M., Perez-Rios, M., Lopez, M. J., Ariza, C., Pascual, J. A., Schiaffino, A., Perez-Ortuno, R., Salto, E., Nebot, M. (2009). Impact of the Spanish smoking law in smoker hospitality workers. Nicotine Tob Res 11: 1099-1106 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Neuner, B, Weiss-Gerlach, E, Miller, P, Martus, P, Hesse, D, Spies, C (2009). Emergency department-initiated tobacco control: a randomised controlled trial in an inner city university hospital. Tobacco Control 18: 283-293 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Kotz, D, West, R (2009). Explaining the social gradient in smoking cessation: it's not in the trying, but in the succeeding. Tobacco Control 18: 43-46 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Hecht, S S, Carmella, S G, Edmonds, A, Murphy, S E, Stepanov, I, Luo, X, Hatsukami, D K (2008). Exposure to nicotine and a tobacco-specific carcinogen increase with duration of use of smokeless tobacco. Tobacco Control 17: 128-131 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Aveyard, P., West, R. (2007). Managing smoking cessation. BMJ 335: 37-41 [Full Text]  
• Siahpush, M., Borland, R., Yong, H.-H. (2007). Sociodemographic and psychosocial correlates of smoking-induced deprivation and its effect on quitting: findings from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Survey. Tobacco Control 16: e2-e2 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Fong, G T, Cummings, K M, Shopland, D R, for the ITC Collaboration, (2006). Building the evidence base for effective tobacco control policies: the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project (the ITC Project). Tobacco Control 15: iii1-iii2 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Borland, R, Yong, H-H, Cummings, K M, Hyland, A, Anderson, S, Fong, G T (2006). Determinants and consequences of smoke-free homes: findings from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey. Tobacco Control 15: iii42-iii50 [Abstract] [Full Text]