Relationships thrive based on the common bonds that unite partners. For better or worse, this often includes cigarette smoking. Whether one or both partners smoke, cigarettes play a significant--and sometimes dangerous--role in the relationship. But like any adversity, couples must work together to overcome this obstacle.
Types
Many couples regularly conduct their daily activities together, including all the habits both partners bring to the relationship. Each couple chooses to facilitate cigarette smoking differently, but researchers from the website women.smokefree.gov identify the three most common patterns couples fall into. Accommodating couples routinely allow time for cigarette breaks throughout the day, even if only one partner smokes. These pairs choose to accept and incorporate smoking into everyday life, while disengaged couples separately embrace their cigarette addiction. They still allow each other to smoke, but it is not the same issue as it is for conflictual couples. In this case, only one partner smokes--much to the dismay of their companion, according to Relationships and Smoking.
Influence
According to the Research Institute on Addictions, smokers commonly pair with other smokers. As a result, these partners tend to perpetuate each other's habits. The study also revealed that husbands tend to be more influential in this process than wives. By the same token, a smoker can potentially be influenced by his nonsmoking partner to ditch cigarettes. Overall, however, it was revealed that spouses tend to encourage picking up smoking rather than quit.
Expert Insight
Japanese researcher Takeshi Hirayama found that partners of heavy smokers put themselves in harm's way. In his World Health Organization report, it was found that nonsmoking wives of heavy smokers have a significantly greater risk of developing lung cancer compared with couples who do not smoke. This suggests the potentially deadly effects secondhand smoke poses for nonsmoking partners. Hirayama also confirmed that the negative impact of this long-term exposure to cigarette smoke outweighs the health consequences caused from alcohol or occupation-related hazards.
Tips
Once cigarettes become an ingrained part of the relationship, University of Arizona professor Michael Rohrbaugh found that it is difficult for couples to maintain the same dynamic without smoking, especially for single-smoker couples or when only one partner attempts to quit.
A few techniques can aid in the process of quitting. You drastically increase the chances of quitting smoking by making your home a smoke-free environment. Because quitting is a gradual process, switch to lower tar or nicotine cigarettes. This has been proved to be more successful than the "cold-turkey" method, but even if smokers do relapse it is important they stay motivated to quit, according to "How Not to Be My Patient."
Considerations
Steve Conner, science editor for U.K.-based "The Independent," reported on Japanese and Danish studies that confirm parents who smoke around the time of their child's conception are significantly more likely to have a girl. This is true when both the father and mother smoke cigarettes. Researchers explain that male sperm cells are prone to toxins in cigarette smoke and therefore are less likely to be successfully fertilized as a result, according to Smoking Couples.
References
- "How not to be my patient: a physician's secrets for staying healthy and Surviving Any Diagnosis"; Edward T. Creagan, M.D., Sandra Wendel, M.D.; 2003
- "Research Institute on Addictions"; Spousal influence on smoking behaviors in a US community sample of newly married couples; G.G. Homish, K. E. Leonard; December 2005
- "Bulletin of the World Health Organization"; Non-smoking wives of heavy smokes have a higher risk of lung cancer; Takeshi Hirayama; July 2000
- "Smokefree.gov": Relationships and Smoking
- "The Independent"; Smoking couples 'more likely to conceive a girl'; Steve Connor; April 2002
