Weight Control Belief and Its Impact on Cigarette Consumption and Quit Attempts: Findings from ITC Survey

Weight concerns are widely documented as one of the major barriers for girls and young adult women to quitting smoking. Recent studies have suggested that the health benefit of quitting is still substantial even after taking the weight gain into account. This study employs the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project in China to investigate the prevalence of weight control belief and whether smokers who believe that smoking helps control weight are less responsive to tobacco control polices with regards to cigarette consumption and quit attempts than those who do not. The generalized estimating equations were used to examine the association between the weight control belief and smoking behaviors, as well as the disparity in policy responsiveness by the belief. We find that the prevalence of weight control belief does not differ by gender in China, yet younger female smokers aged 18-40, compared with older ones, are about 20 percentage points more likely to believe that smoking helps weight control. In addition, weight control belief is associated with more cigarette consumption among male Chinese smokers aged 41-65. Although the results indicate that the policy responsiveness among Chinese smokers do not vary by weight control belief, only smokers who do not believe that smoking helps weight control respond to warning labels by increasing their quit attempts. The combined evidence suggests that surveillance on weight concern-related smoking in China is highly warranted.