A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine - “The collective dynamics of smoking in a large social network” highlights the influence of society on smoking behavior.

The probability of quitting is related to the number of people in your social network who smoke. The influence of smoking cessation depends on the relationship status which can be summarized in the following table:

However, in interpreting the above table the following should be kept in mind:

• The stronger the friendship and the better the educated the friend, the greater the influence on smoking behavior
• The the patterns in the table were more likely to be followed among highly educated smokers
• The influence of the persons family/spouse remained significant regardless of whether the relative was a heavy or light smoker
• The influence of friends on smoking cessation was limited to the influence of light smokers only

Therefore when trying to quit smoking, it will be very helpful to motivate your relatives and friends to quit also.