RICHMOND, Va. -- A new survey on Americans' tobacco habits and attitudes finds that most college graduates have never tried a cigarette, that younger smokers are twice as likely to hide their habit from their coworkers and that more than one in three women smokers are lighting up more than three hours a day.
The findings are part of a national poll of more than 1,000 American adults conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs on behalf of Swedish Match, a Sweden-based tobacco company.
The survey found that 21% of Americans say they are current smokers, with 23% declaring that they have quit the habit and 42% replying that they have never had a cigarette, a figure that jumps to 54% among college graduates. Only 12% of those who completed college say they smoke.
The highest rates of smoking are among 18-to-34-year-olds (23%), just ahead of 35-to-54-year-olds (22%) and much higher than those 55 and older (17%).
Among those who quit smoking, more than half (56%) said they did so due to fear of health complications, with one-third (32%) giving up cigarettes due to their cost.
Smokers are largely transparent about their tobacco use. Only 15% of those who do or did smoke say they hid/hide the habit from their coworkers. Among younger (age 18 to 34) smokers, however, the percentage of those who conceal their cigarette use at work more than doubles to 36%.
"This survey underscores the significant generational and educational differences in Americans' attitudes toward smoking," said Chris Lemmon, senior brand manager at Swedish Match. "Curiously, the smoking rates among millennials--the generation that has grown up with anti-smoking messages--are actually higher than older age groups, and yet one in three of them hide their cigarette use at work, which likely speaks to the stigma still associated with smoking."
The amount of time Americans spend smoking varies widely, but 62% of smokers say they spend at least an hour a day puffing, with one in four (24%) admitting they spend at least three hours a day on the habit. More than one-third (37%) of women and retirees (42%) spend at least three hours every day lighting up.
Attitudes toward electronic cigarettes appear to be evolving. While 58% of smokers surveyed said that there was not a stigma associated with e-cigarettes, more than one in three smokers (37%) say they don't use e-cigarettes because the health impacts of them are still unknown, with another 18% believing them just to be a "fad." More than one-quarter (28%) of the smokers surveyed say they use e-cigarettes.
Ipsos conducted the poll on behalf of Swedish Match from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, 2014. It interviewed a representative randomly selected sample of 1,003 adults online via the I-Say panel.
Swedish Match develops, manufactures, and sells snus and snuff, other tobacco products (OTP), cigars and chewing tobacco and matches and lighters. Brands include General snus, Longhorn moist snuff, White Owl cigars, Red Man chewing tobacco, Fiat Lux matches and Cricket lighters.
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