Smoking and poverty

Abstract

The problem of poverty leads to increased use of both legal and illegal drugs. Tobacco and alcohol are legal drugs that cause particular concern. Both drugs are widely abused in Germany by people attempting to escape their everyday problems. For decades it has been known that tobacco and alcohol use are more prevalent in lower socio-economic groups of society (those with low educational achievement, compared with people with further or higher education qualifications). Tobacco and alcohol use is particularly high among the unemployed, either temporarily or long-term, as well as people living alone. Children and women are more concerned about smoking than men. Female loneliness, often accompanied by the appearance of depressive reactions or of depression, increases the likelihood of cigarette smoking. Poor people spend up to 20% of their income on tobacco. In many industrialized countries, the age of onset of smoking is becoming younger and younger, increasing the risk of development of avoidable tobacco-related illnesses at an earlier age. This means that young smokers who develop chronic tobacco-related illnesses will require medical care over many years, increasing the cost of treating tobacco-related disease. Within the next few years, effective prevention programs against smoking must be developed, particularly for the lower socio-economic populations, in order to stop the cost of healthcare systems spiraling over the coming decades.

Is it vulnerability or economic insecurity that matters for health?

“…In particular it is well-known that lower and higher income individuals have differing methods of diffusing stress which will produce varying effects on physical wellbeing. Poorer individuals are more disposed to over eating (McLaren, 2007), smoking (Haustein, 2006) and are more likely to abuse alcohol (Mossakowski, 2008). Therefore if high levels of anxiety prompts such behavioral responses the physical ill-effects will be disproportionately greater for lower income persons.…”

Tabagismo, situação no mercado de trabalho e gênero: análise da PNAD 2008

“…No entanto, mesmo nestes, o declínio do consumo não ocorre de maneira uniforme entre os diferentes grupos sociais. Os estudos sugerem gradiente inverso entre indicadores de posição socioeconô-mica e prevalência de tabagismo 3 . Ser fumante é crescentemente associado a diferentes marcadores de privação, como escolaridade, renda e ocupação dos indivíduos, condições materiais do domicílio 4 e fatores contextuais relativos à vizinhança 5 .…”

Association of Physical Job Demands, Smoking and Alcohol Abuse with Subsequent Premature Mortality: A 9‐year Follow‐up Population‐based Study

“…Note that manual workers have a higher prevalence of smoking than higher socio-economic classes [33][34][35] . In many industrialized countries smoking has been very common since youth, increasing the risk of the development of avoidable tobacco-related illnesses at an early age 36,37) . France is a wine producting country where alcohol consumption is higher than elsewhere, while smoking remains prevalent 6,33,38) .…”