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Stigma and Smoking: The Consequences of Our Good Intentions

Smoking has become increasingly socially unacceptable in the United States, and the change coincides with a decline in tobacco use. This growing social unacceptability raises an important new question: Do people who smoke think they are stigmatized? Stigmas may function as a source of social control, contributing to smokers’ decisions to quit in order to avoid stigmatization and social exclusion. However, smoker‐related stigmas may have counterproductive consequences for smokers if stigmas encourage secrecy and social withdrawal from nonsmokers. This study, based on a random survey of smokers in New York City, provides new measures of perceived devaluation, perceived differential treatment due to smoking, social withdrawal from nonsmokers, and concealment of smoking status. Forty‐four percent perceive devaluation and 17 percent report experiencing differential treatment due to smoking. In short, the results suggest that the stigmatization of smokers is a potentially powerful and unrecognized force, one that may have counterproductive consequences.