BACKGROUND: It is well known that almost half of Chinese men smoke, but few of women smoke in China. However, much more young girls smoke in public places than ten years ago, especially in big cities. This study aims to investigate Chinese females' motivation to smoke, characteristics of smoking behavior, reasons for quitting, and attitudes and perceptions of female smoking behavior.
METHODS: Semi-structured focus groups were used to explore both women and men’s perception of women’s tobacco use, and women’s tobacco use behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and motivations for tobacco use and quitting in Beijing, Changsha and Shenzhen. In total, 288 participants were interviewed, which included 120 female smokers, 61 female nonsmokers, 66 female former smokers and 41 men. Nvivo software was used for data analysis.
RESULTS: Although some female non-smokers expressed negative sentiments towards female smoking, most participants believe more women are smoking nowadays, and social acceptance of female smoking is higher than decades ago. Young women participants were more open to next generation’s smoking compared to their mothers. Female smokers started smoking at different times in life and for different reasons. Female smokers tend to conceal their smoking behavior to their parents, strangers, and nonsmokers. Most female smokers have little interest in quitting. However, nearly all female smokers agreed that they would seriously consider quitting smoking when they prepare for, or have become pregnant.
CONCLUSIONS: Female smoking might be more acceptable in big cities nowadays in China, and the social and cultural constraints that previously prevented many women from smoking are weakening.Pregnancy might be a gold opportunity for female smoke to quit.Specific interventions should be tailored for each group to prevent them from smoking initiation.In addition, concealing smoking might bring a challenge for self-report tobacco survey for female.