The United States navy attracts young women who smoke

Abstract

Editor,—In the United States, smoking rates continue to be higher in male and female active duty military personnel than among their civilian counterparts.1 2 Other countries have similarly reported higher smoking rates among their military personnel.3 Several studies have investigated whether the United States navy “attracts” or “produces” smokers—that is, whether the higher prevalence of smoking among navy active duty personnel is due to self selection of smokers into the navy, or by navy institutional norms that promote smoking.1 4-9 Studies to date have had methodological limitations—for instance, small samples, limited age ranges, use of active duty personnel rather than new enlistees, or no adjustments for differences in civilian–military sociodemographic factors—and results have been conflicting. The present analysis addressed the “attracting” aspect of the question by …