Researchers at the Moores Cancer Centre at the University of California, San Diego have found that young adults are more likely than older adults to quit smoking successfully, partly because they are more likely to make a serious effort to quit.
The study also found that young adults, aged 18 to 24, are more likely to have tried to quit smoking than older adults, aged 50 to 64.
The study used the largest available national data sample, the 2003 Tobacco Use Supplement to the U.S. Current Population Survey, to evaluate the relationship between smoking cessation rates and tobacco-related behaviours between age groups.
Eighty-four percent of smokers aged 18 to 24 reported seriously trying to quit in the prior year compared to just 64 percent of those 50 to 64 years old.
The study also showed that smokers who lived in a smokefree home were four times as successful at quitting as those who lived in a home with a smoker.