Smoking Cessation Treatments: What Are Young Adult Smokers Thinking?

Quitting smoking is hard. That is why smoking cessation rates among US adult smokers have remained low over the years: in 2017 only 7 percent of smokers succeeded in quitting smoking (Babb, Malarcher, Schauer, Asman, & Jamal, 2017). Additionally, success in quitting smoking varies by race/ethnicity—only 5 percent of non-Hispanic black smokers succeeded in quitting smoking over a twelve-month period, while 7 percent of non-Hispanic white and 8 percent of Hispanic smokers succeeded in quitting smoking (Babb et al., 2017). Moreover, smokers with less education are less likely than those with more education to succeed in quitting smoking, partly because they were less likely to make quit attempts (Zhuang, Gamst, Cummins, Wolfson, & Zhu, 2015). Using evidence-based cessation treatments can make quitting smoking easier. However, only 31 percent of US adult smokers used cessation counseling and/or medication when trying to quit smoking (Babb et al., 2017).