Volume 12, Number 3 Women's Dependence on Smoking Affected By
Something in Addition to Nicotine By Neil Swan, NIDA NOTES Staff
Writer A number of studies have shown that women find it more
difficult than do men to quit smoking cigarettes. This is
especially evident in studies of nicotine replacement therapies
that use nicotine patches or nicotine gum. Now two separate
NIDA-funded studies examining gender differences related to
smoking suggest that something in addition to nicotine is
involved in women's dependence on smoking tobacco. "It appears
that, compared to men, women may smoke less for nicotine and
more for nonnicotine effects of smoking," says Dr. Kenneth A.
Perkins, a psychologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center. These nonnicotine influences might include nondrug-
induced sensory effects like seeing and smelling tobacco smoke,
conditioned responses to these smoke stimuli, or social
pleasures involved in smoking rituals, he suggests. For example,
one observer has noted that smokers may e