The influence of cigarrette-smoking when choosing a partner for a casual, intimate relationship

Abstract

Attitudes towards smoking have changes in recent years and it would appear that, whereas for many years cigarette-smoking was associated with a certain physical attractive and sex appeal, this may no longer be the case. The aim of this study is to analyse whether smoking has a favourable or unfavourable effect when approaching a potential partner for a casual, intimate relationship. A total of 597 participants (293 non-smokers, 163 ex-smokers and 141 smokers) were recruited by means of intentional sampling to participate in this study, using the “snowball” technique. Three different ad hoc questionnaires were used for each of the groups of participants The results showed that, in the majority of the sample studied,  smoking had a dissuasive effect with regard to establishing a relationship of this type, both amongst men and women and in the different age groups. For this type of relationship, particiants prefered non-smokers people. These results could be of great value when developing preventative and therapeutic interventions focused on the habit of smoking.