The Stages of Change in Smoking Cessation in a Representative Sample of Korean Adult Smokers

This study reports the stages of change in smoking cessation in a representative sample of Korean adult smokers. The study subjects, all adult smokers (n=2,422), were recruited from the second Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in 2001. The stages of change were categorized using demographic (age and sex), socioeconomic (education, residence, and household income), and smoking characteristics (age at smoking onset, duration of smoking, and number of cigarettes smoked per day). Age-stratified analyses of the association of socioeconomic and smoking characteristics with the stages of change in male and female smokers were also conducted. According to the stages of change, the study population consisted of 37.6% (95% CI, 35.7-39.5) pre-contemplation, 56.0% (54.0-58.0) contemplation, and 6.4% (5.4-7.4) preparation. The associations between the characteristics of the smokers and the stages of change were all statistically significant. The age-stratified analyses showed that all the socioeconomic and smoking characteristics were significantly associated with the stages in males, while education and residence had significant associations in females. This study revealed that a relatively small number of Korean smokers were prepared to quit and the stage distribution might be influenced by demographic, socioeconomic, and smoking characteristics.