Tobacco Documents Online

1600 - SMOKER PSYCHOLOGY SMOKING AND SOCIOECONMIC STATUS

Abstract

This confidential Philip Morris internal report on "smoker psychology" explores the relationship between socioeconomic status and smoking. It finds that:

"Lower class panelists smoke more and are much more likely to be smokers than upper class panelists..."

It also found that lower class people tend to smoke nonfiltered cigarettes (tend to "avoid health filters") and that they also tend to avoid 100 millimeter-length brands.

The writers also observe that lower class people have more incidence of poor mental health, hypothesizing that people use smoking as a "strategy" to combat the stress of low class status as well as poor mental health:

"...the incidence of poor mental health is greatest among the lower class...To the extent that smoking is one of the available strategies people can adopt to combat stress, we therefore would expect greater incidence of smoking among the lower social classes."

The study also finds a correlation between lower class and poor physical health, but avoids directly confronting the possibility that smoking could account for this, preferring to attribute poor physical health status to simply to BEING a member of the lower class:

"...because the incidence of smoking differs between the social classes, we would find our research literature filled with obervations suggesting that smoking is related to poor health. The literature does show this, and it may be wrong...At least part of the reported statistical relationships between health variables and incidence of smoking can probably be accounted for in this fashion. The smoking and health relationships may be at least in part due to social class differences rather than to smoking per se."

Despite Philip Morris' internal findings of higher smoking rates among lower socioeconimic classes, as well as its findings that this group also has a higher incidence of both poor mental and physical health, it continued to promote its deadly and addictive products heavily among these groups. One must question whether this violates state charters for incorporation, which generally require that a corporation does not harm the population.

Here is what Colorado's state constitution says about revoking corporate charters:

"Section 3. Power to revoke, alter or annul charter. The general assembly shall have the power to alter, revoke or annul any charter of incorporation now existing and revocable at the adoption of this constitution, or any that may hereafter be created, whenever in their opinion it may be injurious to the citizens of the state, in such manner, however, that no injustice shall be done to the corporators."

Would it be just or unjust to Philip Morris to revoke its corporate charter if it was shown to have knowingly degraded the health of Colorado's least well-off citizens to achieve higher profits?

Fields

Quotes

A survey of the socioeconomic status of...panelists reveals that

1) Lower class panelists smoke more and are much more likely to be smokers than upper class panelists...

...Social class influences cigarette type very little except for lower class tendencies to smoke nonfilters and avoid health filters and 100 mm brands.

...Social class of respondents cannot be ignored in studying smoking behavior.

...Kinsey reports have shown that the sexual standards and behaviors of the classes differ; even casual observation shows that the classes have different likelihood of attending specific protestant churches (the funamentalist churches appeal of the lower classes, and the Methodist and Episcopal to the upper classes); many consumer studies reveal differences among classes in preference for private brands vs. tradenames, for type of retail stores frequented, and for concern with the appearance of their homes...

...A few recent studies have suggested that (as a consequence?) there are personality test score difference between the social classes, so that lower classes appear more anxious than upper classes. As a corollary to this observation, we note that still other investigatons report that the incidence of poor mental health is greatest among the lower class...To the extent that smoking is one of the available strategies people can adopt to combat stress, we therefore would expect greater incidence of smoking among the lower social classes.

...The naive experimenter who ignores social class and measures only intelligence test scores of...[smokers and nonsmokers] will therefore conclude "that smokers have lower intelligence test scores than nonsmokers." This is true, but it is a nonsense statement. It implies that smoking is somehow related to intelligence test score. Within each social class however each smoker has exactly the same score as each nonsmoker. What the naive researcher is seeing is the confounding effects of different social class intelligence socres and different proportions of smokers...

As a second hypothetical example, suppose that some index of poor health is related to social class in such a way that the well-paid, well-educated white collar workers enjoy better health than poorly paid, poorly educated laborers. Then, because the incidence of smoking differs between the social classes, we would find our research literature filled with obervations suggesting that smoking is related to poor health. The literature does show this, and it may be wrong.

At least part of the reported statistical relationships between health variables and incidence of smoking can probably be accounted for in this fashion.

The smoking and health relationships may be at least in part due to social class differences rather than to smoking per se.

It must be cautioned that this observation does not mean smoking is independent of health problems...

Company

Philip Morris Cos., Inc.

Author

Johnson, M.E. (Philip Morris)

Ryan, F.J. (Philip Morris)

Recipient

Fagan. R

Fountaine, S

Graham, R

Osdene, T

Resnick, F

Seligman, R

Thomson, R

Udow, A

Wakeham, H

Litigation

United States

Type

Report- Scientific

Subject

Health effects

Mental health

Smoker psychology