SOCIAL CIRCLES: Can't seem to quit smoking on your own? It might be time to talk to your friends.

A new study shows that people within social circles and family networks influence each other when it comes to smoking behavior. The National Institute on Aging funded the study, which was published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Friends and Family Influence Smokers

Harvard Medical School's Dr. Nicholas Christakis and University of California, San Diego's Dr. James Fowler conducted the research. They followed a group of 12,067 people—smokers and nonsmokers—from 1971 to 2003. They looked at how relationships within family and social networks influenced participants' smoking behavior. These networks included:

• spouses
• siblings
• parents
• other relatives
• coworkers
• neighbors
• friends
• friends of friends

What Christakis and Fowler realized is that the smokers had formed "social clusters," groups usually made up of three people in their social network. If one person in a cluster quit smoking, so did the other two. And they don't even need to know each other. It works like this:

• Sharon is a friend of Bob's.
• Bob is a friend of Lane's.
• Sharon and Lane don't know each other.
• All three people smoke.
• Then, Lane quits smoking:
• Although Sharon and Lane don't know each other, Sharon's chances of quitting smoking have just gone up 30%, even if Bob doesn't quit.

Those within our social circles, such as spouses, friends and coworkers, influence our health decisions and behaviors. This holds true for people who quit smoking as well as for those who start smoking.

Smokers Quit in Threes

Smoking among adults in the United States is declining. In 1965, 45% of American adults smoked. Today only 20% smoke. As the number of Americans smoking dropped, so did the number of social clusters of smokers. But those clusters that continued remained the same size—three people. The researchers interpret this by saying smokers were quitting not one by one, but as entire groups of three.

How close a relationship was also determined how influential it was on someone's smoking behavior:

• If your spouse quits—you're 67% more likely to quit
• If your friend quits—you're 36% more likely to quit
• If your sibling quits—you're 25% more likely to quit
• If your coworker (in a small company) quits—you're 34% more likely to quit

The influential effect of social circles was more pronounced for casual smokers than for heavy smokers.

Over the course of the study, those who didn't quit smoking were marginalized as their social network of fellow smokers broke down all around them. They felt isolated. They had fewer friends. They had fewer connections to draw on for social contact.

This may be particular painful for those who are already stigmatized by society, such as the mentally ill or those with substance abuse problems.

Copyright © 2009 Informify

Sources

Study Finds Big Social Factor in Quitting Smoking (The New York Time, 5/22/08)

Kicking the habit may be contagious, study finds (Reuters, 5/21/08)

Question for Readers:

Have you ever tried to quit smoking by yourself and failed? Do you think you'd have better luck if your smoking buddies quit too?