If the prevalence of smoking has decreased significantly in France since the 1970s, part of the population, in particular young people, it still sees it as socially acceptable behavior, according to a survey, which shows the need to “adapt efforts to denform tobacco.”
As World Tobacco Day is approaching on May 31, PUB PUB HEALTH France (SPF) publishes on Tuesday, May 27, a study dedicated to “smoking perceptions among young people from 18 to 75 years”, based on a telephone survey conducted in 2022, whose responses were compared to the data of several barometers of the organization, which went up to 2005.
It seems that in 2022, two thirds of the 3,229 people interviewed estimated that “the company disapproves smoking” and that more than one in two (52.6%) thought that today “we are less accepted when one is a smoker.”
“A reduction in social standards”
Almost nine out of ten smokers (86.3%) agreed with the statement: “People who care believe that you should not smoke.”
This development seems to reflect “a reduction in favorable social standards for smoking” between 2005 and 2022 in France, which will be necessary to confirm “during future surveys, write the authors of the study.
However, “some signs seem to indicate a recent inverse,” they point out.
Thus, in 2022, “27.3% of people according to the” statement of smoking made it possible to be more comfortable in a group “, against 21.7% in 2017”. It was 37.1% in 2005. This proportion fell from 2005 to 2010 and then stabilized from 2010 to 2017, before re -assembling from 2017 to 2022.
A thought that refers to a certain type of profile
In addition, “younger people and with a lower level of diploma are more inclined to perceive smoking as socially acceptable behavior”: only 29% of young people aged 18 to 34 believe that “we are less accepted when we are a smoker”, against 53% of the 35-54 years and 70% of the 55-75 years, according to the survey.
And the idea that “the company disapproves smoking” is associated with a higher diploma level than the BAC and an individual income greater than 1,800 euros per month, the survey also reveals.
These variations in perceptions according to sociodemographic characteristics reflect a persistence of social inequalities linked to smoking that should be taken into account to direct better campaigns and prevention interventions, SPF concludes.
Sample of 3,229 people, representatives of residents of continental France from 18 to 25 years, based on data analysis of the Public Health Barometer of France 2021.
Source: BFM TV
