SMOKING CESSATATION AND SEX ROLE CONVERGENCE

THERE IS EVIDENCE SUGGESTING THAT SEX ROLE DIFFERENCES ARE IN PART CULTURALLY TRANSMITTED. THIS WORK EXAMINES THE POSSIBILITY THAT THERE IS CONVERGENCE OF SMOKING CESSATION RATES, AS REGARDS THE SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE SEXES. ON THE BASIS OF THE EQUALITARIAN SHIFT, IT IS PROPOSED "THAT THE DIFFERENCE IN AMOUNT OF QUITTING BETWEEN M'S & F'S DOES DECREASE FROM OLDER TO YOUNGER AGE GROUPS," & THAT "THERE IS A DIMINISHED SEX DIFFERENTIAL WHEN SMOKING CESSATION IS RELATED TO INTERPERSONAL FACTORS." DATA USED ARE FROM A NATIONAL PROBABILITY SAMPLE (N=5,704) COLLECTED IN 1966 BY NATIONAL ANALYSTS INC & BY OPINION RESEARCH CORP FOR THE NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE FOR SMOKING & HEALTH. COHORT ANALYSIS WAS BASED ON 6 BIRTH YEAR GROUPINGS. FINDINGS SUPPORT THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THE SEX DIFFERENTIAL IN FAVOR OF MORE M'S QUITTING IS VANISHING AT YOUNGER AGES. F QUITTERS OUTNUMBER THE M'S IN THE MOST RECENT BIRTH YEARS. ANOTHER FINDING SHOWS THAT THE SEXES AT OLDER AGES ARE SIMILAR IN RESPONSE TO THE INTERPERSONAL FACTOR. ALSO, THAT THERE IS A CONVERGENCE IN SMOKING CESSATION RATES OF THE SEXES FOR THOSE OF MORE RECENT BIRTH YEARS. F'S IN THE 3 MIDDLE BIRTH YEAR COHORTS WERE FOUND TO BE LESS SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE INTERPERSONAL FACTOR & THE INTERPERSONAL FACTOR WAS FOUND TO BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN AGE FOR SMOKING CESSATION. 1 GRAPH, 2 TABLES. MODIFIED HA.