ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Over half of young adults with schizophrenia smoke. Quitting before age 30 could prevent some of the disparate morbidity and mortality due to smoking-related diseases. However, little research has addressed smoking in this group nor evaluated strategies to help young adults with schizophrenia quit smoking. METHODS: We compared demographic and smoking-related characteristics of young adults and those over 30 years of age among 184 smokers with schizophrenia. With a series of regression models, we assessed whether age, gender, smoking characteristics, social norms, attitudes, and perceived behavioral control predicted intention to quit smoking and to use cessation treatments. RESULTS: Young adults had smoked for fewer years, had lower nicotine dependence, and had lower breath carbon monoxide levels than those over 30, yet awareness of the harms of smoking and readiness to quit were similar between groups. Attitudes about smoking, attitudes about cessation treatment, social norms for cessation treatment, and perceived behavioral control for cessation treatment significantly predicted intention to use cessation treatment. Age was not a predictor of intention to quit, nor to use cessation treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Young adults with schizophrenia are amenable to smoking cessation intervention. Increasing awareness of the safety, efficacy and access to cessation treatments among smokers with schizophrenia and also among those in their social network may improve use of effective cessation treatment. These strategies may enhance the standard educational approach (increasing awareness of harms). Research is needed to evaluate such intervention strategies in smokers with schizophrenia of all ages.