Two-thirds had quit. Three-quarters had stopped. Urban residents were 41 percent more likely to smoke than were people from rural areas. The more religious people were, the less likely they were to smoke, although Catholics and members of Eastern Orthodox churches were more likely to smoke than members of other religious groups. The more smokers in the childhood home, the more likely a person was to smoke.
Military service increases men's likelihood of smoking.
High IQ and parental encouragement to attend college increased women's chances of smoking, although the habit didn't necessarily persist. Later socioeconomic achievements and life events do not moderate the effects of early life events on smoking. No data were collected on why people stopped smoking, since the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study was not designed to probe for reasons behind smoking behaviors. A more complete picture of societal smoking behavior could have been obtained, she said, if the survey had begun by collecting information about health behaviors from all students entering high school rather than those graduating from high school. Even so, the study has significant public health implications, according to Mayer.