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Smoking Cessation Harder For Women Than Men  

Women appear to have a tougher time quitting smoking than men, according to researchers at Women's Health Research at Yale.

While the percentage of men nationally who have given up cigarettes between 1965 and 2006 was 54.5 percent, the rate of decline among women was less steep, at 47.5 percent.

Consequently, the gap in the percentages of male and female smokers has narrowed. In 1965, slightly more than half of all men smoked, while about a third of women did. Today 23.3 percent of men smoke, compared to 18.6 percent of women.

Here we talked to Carolyn Mazure, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and director of the research program, about why women are not kicking the habit at the same rate as men.

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