Tsai Yi-Wen, Tsai Tzu-I, Yang Chung-Lin, Kuo Ken N
National Health Research Institute, Center for Health Policy Research and Development, Miaoli, Taiwan.
J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2008 Jul-Aug;17(6):971-8. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2007.0621.
Gender-sensitive tobacco control policies are being challenged, and new directions are being sought because public health efforts have reduced cigarette consumption more substantially among men than among women. To better target women, it would help to identify the protective cultural factors that promote resiliency in women and discourage them from smoking. Whereas western cultures have generated a great deal of gender-specific research and programs on the prevention of smoking in women, Asian cultures have not. Taking a personal and sociocultural perspective, this study examines the effect of gender on smoking behaviors in Taiwan.
In a 2004 cross-sectional random-sampled interview survey, 827 adult men and 90 adult women smokers in Taiwan were queried about the time they began smoking, maintenance of their habits, and their readiness to change.
The male/female smoking rate ratio was 9.5 (45.7% vs. 4.8%). Men smoked significantly more cigarettes per day than women (18 vs. 11). We found Taiwanese women started smoking around 20 years old, much later than their western counterparts. We also found that whereas the smoking behavior of the men was very sensitive to social environment and structural factors, that of women revolved around their desire to control their weight and handle their emotions.
Differences in the smoking behavior of men and women are a result of a different sociocultural environment and the life trajectories and social circumstances embedded within it. Comprehensive tobacco control policies need to be tailored to not just smoking behavior alone or one population alone but to the determinants of smoking behavior in specific groups, for example, women. Even when targeting women, some effort may be needed on targeting women of different ethnicities, for instance, Asian women in whom the prevalence is increasing at alarming rates.
对性别敏感的烟草控制政策正面临挑战，人们正在寻求新的方向，因为公共卫生措施在减少男性吸烟量方面比女性更为显著。为了更好地针对女性，识别那些促进女性恢复力并阻止她们吸烟的保护性文化因素会有所帮助。西方文化已经产生了大量针对女性预防吸烟的性别特定研究和项目，而亚洲文化则没有。本研究从个人和社会文化角度考察了性别对台湾吸烟行为的影响。
在2004年的一项横断面随机抽样访谈调查中，对台湾827名成年男性吸烟者和90名成年女性吸烟者询问了他们开始吸烟的时间、吸烟习惯的维持情况以及他们改变吸烟习惯的意愿。
男性/女性吸烟率之比为9.5（45.7%对4.8%）。男性每天吸烟的数量显著多于女性（18支对11支）。我们发现台湾女性大约在20岁开始吸烟，比西方女性晚得多。我们还发现，男性的吸烟行为对社会环境和结构因素非常敏感，而女性的吸烟行为则围绕着她们控制体重和处理情绪的愿望。
男性和女性吸烟行为的差异是不同社会文化环境以及其中所蕴含的生活轨迹和社会环境的结果。全面的烟草控制政策不仅需要针对吸烟行为本身或某一特定人群，还需要针对特定群体（如女性）吸烟行为的决定因素。即使针对女性，可能也需要针对不同种族的女性做出一些努力，例如亚洲女性，其吸烟率正以惊人的速度上升。
