Household Size Related to Prevalence of Smoking in Women in Japan.

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between the prevalence of smoking in females and various social factors, such as household size. Ten thousand and sixty-nine subjects over 20 years of age were randomly selected from the general population of Mie Prefecture.The results showed that the habit of smoking was significantly associated with household size in women (P<0.01), but not in men. Regarding household size, current smoking rate of women aged 20-59 who live in three-generation household was lower than those who live in others. Therefore, the steady replacement of the traditional three-generation household by smaller households in Japan may lead to an increase in the number of young women who smoke.

Accumulation of health risk behaviours is associated with lower socioeconomic status and women's urban residence: a multilevel analysis in Japan

“…This suggests that employment is associated with risk behaviour in women. Previous studies demonstrated that women's participation in society was related to a higher prevalence of smoking in accordance with the reduced intolerance toward this habit in women [40,41]. In addition, the tendency for higher OR of current smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and poor dietary habits in "sales workers" and "service workers" among the occupational categories implies the accumulation of risk behaviours in Japanese women in lower occupational classes.…”

Smoking among Japanese nursing students: nationwide survey

“…The reason for this is thought to be that traditionally Japanese people, especially those in middle and older age groups, tend to think that women should not smoke. Therefore, students living alone, and therefore unobserved, may start smoking more readily (Ohida et al. 2000, 2001).…”

An analysis of the disparity in smoking prevalence between urban and non-urban areas in Japan (2004–2019)

“…As another possibility, there might be differences in the prevalence of older people who have never smoked between both areas, particularly for women. A survey conducted in 2001 showed that smoking prevalence in urban areas was higher than non-urban areas for women [14], and it discussed how urbanization and social participation for women tended to increase the likelihood of smoking in Japan [14,30,31]. These might account for the difference in smoking prevalence in older women between urban and non-urban areas.…”