Smoking in Spain: Analysis of Initiation and Cessation

We investigate dynamic aspects of smoking behavior by analyzing the initiation and the cessation of smoking habit in Spain. Some interesting results can be distinguished. First, age at smoking initiation is highly concentrated between 14 and 20: once people reach their early 20s without having smoked, the probability of ever smoking is extremely low. Second, in the probability of entry (or age at smoking initiation), education is not a significant factor for men but it is a dominant factor for women, higher education higher probability of initiation of smoking habit. Third, among those who have ever smoked smoking duration decreases (or quit rate increases) substantially with education level for men but does not so for women. Finally, age at initiation increases the quit rate for men while it has no significant effect for women, and addiction (quantity of daily consumption) reduces the quit rate substantially for women but not so for men. In conclusion, the higher smoking rates among high educated women are due to higher entry rates, while the lower smoking rates among high educated men are due to higher exit rates.