On Wednesday, Visiting Professor of Psychology Jennifer Rose presented her findings on subgroups of women smokers and the cessation methods to which they best respond.
Approximately 8,500 young women began to self-report survey data while still in high school in the early 1980s. All of the women smoked at least monthly at the time of the first survey. After that, participants were mailed a survey every five years to monitor progress and change. Retention remained at 70 percent, providing Rose and her colleagues enough data to track subgroups, or classes, of women smokers.
Identifying the subgroups, Rose said, is a way of breaking down the heterogeneous population into homogenous groups whose patterns and behaviors are similar. The same method of identification is used by the tobacco industry to understand which demographics are more easily targeted. Ironically, Rose and her colleagues believe subgroup identification can also be used in smoking cessation programs to effectively focus on and aid the same smokers who were targeted by tobacco marketing.
“There is a great deal of heterogeneity in factors associated with smoking… Where do you start?” said Rose. “What are the issues pertinent to that individual? What do you focus on?”
These questions were answered in part by the creation of three distinct groups of young females: Happy Working Women (HWW), Carefree College Students (CCS), and Hooked & Unhappy (HUA). According to Rose, dividing smokers into these categories encourages interventions that adapt to the demographics, attitudes, and behaviors of each particular group.
“For happy working women, interventions can be tailored to capitalize on their positive outlook,” Rose said.
Similar ideas apply to the CCS and HUA subgroups. The young women who make up the CCS class will respond better to health education, Rose explained, because they tend to be more health conscious and exercise more frequently. On the other hand, women in the HUA class find it easier to quit with the aid of prescription drugs that can quell withdrawal symptoms.
Rose and her colleagues are currently working with focus groups to help further explore their original findings. Comprised of CCS, HUA, and HWW classes, the focus groups have provided preliminary information regarding smoking and alcohol use, cessation attempts, triggers, and “physician intervention.”
Rose noted that primary care physicians rarely address smoking with young women during typical visits, and patients often do themselves a disservice by lying about smoking habits to avoid criticism. Additionally, young women are twice more likely than other smokers to be uninsured.
Rose thinks that customized cessation techniques will prove especially helpful to primary care physicians because they provide more approaches to successful dialogue. For example, smokers in the CCS class will respond most positively to casual offers of help with quitting and do not like to be told that their habit is an addiction.
Rose, who received her PhD in Experimental Psychology, also teaches at the University of Rhode Island and Brown University Medical School. Her expertise is in health psychology, which includes substance abuse, weight, and community health, all of which are relevant to her study of young women smokers.
Jaime DeLanghe ’08 found the study’s results to be true to life.
“A lot of the findings apply to me,” DeLanghe said. “I’m definitely a ‘carefree college student,’ and I don’t like being told about the horrible things I’m doing to myself. But every once in a while, we all need to be reminded.”
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