Demographic and other characteristics by smokers regret status, 2015 (n=1276)
| Respondent characteristics | Respondents who strongly disagreed for having regret† n=54 % (95% CI) | Respondents who disagreed for having regret† n=61 % (95% CI) | Respondents who had a neutral opinion for having regret† n=183 % (95% CI) | Respondents who agreed for having regret† n=250 % (95% CI) | Respondents who strongly agreed for having regret† n=728 % (95% CI) |
| Total | 4.4 (2.7 to 6.0) | 5.8 (3.7 to 7.9) | 18.2 (14.8 to 21.6) | 18.9 (15.9 to 22.0) | 52.7 (48.7 to 56.7) |
| Demographic | |||||
| Sex* | |||||
| Male | 3.1 (1.2 to 4.9) | 6.1 (2.9 to 9.3) | 24.3 (18.7 to 29.9) | 19.8 (15.6 to 24.1) | 46.7 (41.0 to 52.3) |
| Female | 5.5 (2.9 to 8.1) | 5.5 (2.9 to 8.2) | 12.8 (9.0 to 16.7) | 18.2 (13.7 to 22.6) | 58.0 (52.4 to 63.6) |
| Age (years)* | |||||
| 18–34 | 4.9 (1.7 to 8.2) | 4.9 (1.8 to 8.0) | 26.3 (19.3 to 33.3) | 19.7 (13.7 to 25.7) | 44.2 (37.0 to 51.4) |
| 35–54 | 2.8 (1.3 to 4.3) | 8.4 (4.0 to 12.8) | 15.7 (10.4 to 21.0) | 17.7 (12.8 to 22.6) | 55.4 (48.8 to 62.0) |
| >55 | 5.8 (2.1 to 9.5) | 3.4 (1.4 to 5.3) | 11.6 (7.4 to 15.7) | 19.7 (14.9 to 24.6) | 59.6 (53.1 to 66.0) |
| Race/ethnicity* | |||||
| White, non-Hispanic | 3.6 (2.0 to 5.1) | 4.8 (2.8 to 6.8) | 15.3 (11.7 to 18.9) | 20.8 (17.1 to 24.4) | 55.6 (51.0 to 60.2) |
| Other | 5.5 (2.1 to 9.0) | 7.4 (3.2 to 11.7) | 22.7 (16.1 to 29.3) | 16.1 (10.7 to 21.5) | 48.2 (40.8 to 55.5) |
| Education | |||||
| High school or less | 5.3 (2.7 to 7.8) | 3.5 (1.3 to 5.6) | 18.0 (13.2 to 22.8) | 17.6 (13.2 to 22.1) | 55.7 (49.9 to 61.4) |
| Some college | 2.9 (0.9 to 4.9) | 8.2 (3.7 to 12.6) | 18.4 (12.5 to 24.4) | 19.5 (14.2 to 24.8) | 51.1 (44.1 to 58.0) |
| College degree+ | 3.8 (0.6 to 7.0) | 10.1 (3.2 to 16.9) | 18.5 (10.7 to 26.3) | 22.8 (16.4 to 29.2) | 44.8 (36.4 to 53.2) |
| Household income | |||||
| <$30 000 | 6.7 (3.0 to 10.4) | 3.7 (0.7 to 6.6) | 19.0 (13.2 to 24.7) | 17.0 (11.7 to 22.3) | 53.6 (46.7 to 60.6) |
| $30 000–$60 000 | 3.5 (1.3 to 5.6) | 7.1 (2.6 to 11.6) | 15.0 (9.0 to 21.0) | 16.2 (10.9 to 21.5) | 58.2 (50.7 to 65.8) |
| $>60 000 | 2.6 (0.8 to 4.5) | 7.0 (3.5 to 10.5) | 19.7 (13.9 to 25.5) | 22.9 (17.7 to 28.2) | 47.7 (41.3 to 54.0) |
| US region | |||||
| Northeast | 1.7 (0.2 to 3.3) | 6.5 (0.7 to 12.2) | 15.4 (8.3 to 22.4) | 22.4 (14.4 to 30.4) | 54.1 (44.7 to 63.4) |
| Midwest | 4.1 (1.3 to 6.9) | 2.6 (0.8 to 4.4) | 14.5 (9.1 to 19.9) | 22.4 (16.5 to 28.3) | 56.4 (49.3 to 63.5) |
| South | 5.7 (2.1 to 9.3) | 6.9 (3.1 to 10.7) | 21.5 (14.9 to 28.0) | 15.1 (9.8 to 20.4) | 50.8 (43.6 to 58.0) |
| West | 4.1 (1.6 to 6.7) | 7.0 (2.1 to 11.9) | 18.7 (11.7 to 25.7) | 19.2 (13.1 to 25.3) | 51.0 (42.5 to 59.4) |
| Perceived health status* | |||||
| Excellent/very good | 5.0 (2.0 to 8.0) | 9.0 (4.6 to 13.4) | 21.9 (16.1 to 27.8) | 19.7 (15.0 to 24.5) | 44.4 (38.0 to 50.8) |
| Good | 3.3 (1.6 to 5.1) | 4.6 (2.1 to 7.1) | 18.2 (12.7 to 23.7) | 20.9 (15.6 to 26.1) | 53.0 (46.7 to 59.3) |
| Fair/poor | 3.0 (0.4 to 5.7) | 3.3 (0.0 to 7.0) | 11.9 (6.0 to 17.7) | 15.0 (8.8 to 21.3) | 66.7 (58.4 to 75.1) |
| Presence of children under 18 years in the household | |||||
| No | 3.9 (2.1 to 5.7) | 5.8 (3.2 to 8.3) | 15.8 (12.0 to 19.6) | 20.5 (16.7 to 24.3) | 54.1 (49.2 to 59.0) |
| Yes | 5.3 (2.0 to 8.6) | 5.9 (2.4 to 9.4) | 22.9 (16.3 to 29.4) | 15.9 (10.8 to 21.0) | 50.0 (43.1 to 57.0) |
*P<0.05.
†Having regret is defined by responses on question item ‘If I had it to do over again, I would not have started smoking cigarettes. How much do you agree or disagree with this statement?’ Response options were: strongly disagree, somewhat disagree, neither disagree nor agree, somewhat agree and strongly agree.