Elsevier

Social Science & Medicine

Volume 56, Issue 6, March 2003, Pages 1261-1267
Social Science & Medicine

“It’s like an addiction first thing… afterwards it's like a habit”: daily smoking behaviour among people living in areas of deprivation

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-9536(02)00124-7Get rights and content

Abstract

The paper draws on qualitative interviews with a sample of male and female smokers who live in areas of disadvantage in Edinburgh, Scotland, to examine their perceptions of habit and addiction and the implications for smoking behaviour. The paper shows how smokers have a sophisticated understanding of these concepts and the way in which they affected their smoking behaviour across the course of a ‘typical’ day. The paper argues that daily contexts which smokers inhabit either constrain or facilitate smoking and as such play a central role in the way in which they smoke. In contexts where smoking was constrained (by externally or self-imposed restrictions) smokers described how they employed various strategies to achieve and maintain what they perceived to be a desirable level of nicotine intake, such as by anticipatory smoking. Where restrictions on smoking were absent, men's and women's smoking appeared remarkably similar. However, for the most part, the contexts which men and women inhabited over the course of the day differed, with women assuming the largest share of domestic and child care responsibilities. Apparent gender differences in smoking behaviour appeared to be related to the different daily contexts which men and women inhabited. Crucially, the influences on smoking described by respondents in this study were closely related to circumstances of socio-economic deprivation.

Section snippets

Background

British research has established a strong and increasing relationship between cigarette smoking and social disadvantage (Jarvis, 1997; Graham, 1993; Marsh & McKay, 1994; Dorset & Marsh, 1998). This work has identified a large and persistent gap between occupational groups, with smokers over-represented among the unskilled manual groups (Bridgewood et al., 2000). In Scotland, the relationship between smoking and disadvantage is particularly marked. The 1998 Scottish Health Survey indicated that

Findings

The two research areas were highly disadvantaged in terms of the material environment, incidence of social problems, low levels of services and poor amenities. There were very few shops and pubs and the state of parkland and other public areas were very poor. Many flats and houses were unoccupied and burnt out. A large amount of redevelopment work was ongoing during the fieldwork period, with derelict blocks being demolished and rebuilt.

Impressions of area deprivation and the stresses it placed

Discussion

The smokers in this study used the concepts of addiction and habit in a sophisticated way to describe distinct aspects of their smoking behaviour. Although the majority of respondents perceived themselves as being addicted to smoking, only some cigarettes were seen as being smoked in order to satisfy symptoms of addiction. Those cigarettes smoked in response to cravings, or in order to avoid other symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, were ascribed to addiction and differentiated from those smoked

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the respondents who participated in this study. We are especially grateful to the GPs who assisted us, Drs. Penny Watson, Mandy Allison and Carl Bickler, without whom the research could not have been completed. Gratitude is also expressed to Ruth Scott for her secretarial support. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding body. The research was funded by the Chief Scientist Office, Scottish Executive

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