Changes in Adult Smoking Behavior in the United States: 1955 to 1983

A new method for analyzing data from two surveys, applied to questions on smoking in the Current Population Survey and the Health Interview Survey, shows that the net rate at which adults have been quitting smoking has increased in the last three decades. Two periods, the late 1960s and the late 1970s, had especially high rates. Quit rates are higher for older people and males but not markedly so for whites. The number of light and moderate smokers has been decreasing, but the number of heavy smokers has been increasing