Marital Status Disparities in Smoking, 1993-2012

• In Event: 177 - Section on Sociology of Sexualities Paper Session. Sex and Drugs: Intersecting Approaches to Social Problems and Pleasures (co-sponsored with Section on Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco)

Abstract

In recent decades, anti-smoking policies have increasingly adopted a strategy of denormalizing smoking behavior. Whereas the prevalence of smoking has continued to decline, the growing stigmatization of smokers may be contributing to growing social disparities in smoking. I explore this possibility in the context of smoking and marital status. Smoking behavior has become stigmatized in the marriage market, potentially amplifying marital disparities in smoking through two mechanisms: first, by strengthening selection of non-smokers into marriage, and second, by increasing pressure to quit on married smokers. Using repeated cross-sectional data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (N = 3,880,495), I investigate how marital disparities in smoking have changed in the U.S. between 1993 and 2012. Lifetime smoking initiation decreased faster among the married than the unmarried over this period, suggesting intensifying selection of never-smokers into marriage. Among unmarried adults, the composition of ever-smokers has shifted towards a greater share of current smokers, suggesting an emerging or intensifying association between being single and smoking continuation or relapse. These findings suggest strengthening marital disparities in smoking, disadvantaging the unmarried, in an era of growing anti-smoking stigma.

Author

• Dmitry Tumin, The Ohio State University