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Money Motivates Smokers to Quit

Study shows financial incentives work better than just will alone

Feb 12, 2009 11:11 GMT  ·  By
Study shows money works as a powerful incentive for smokers to quit, but payments have to be sustained
   Study shows money works as a powerful incentive for smokers to quit, but payments have to be sustained

While yesterday it was revealed that dieting returned better results when money was also part of the equation, as a component of an ongoing trend of weight loss betting, today it turns out that smokers too can kick the habit easy – if they’re paid to do it. A study published in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that smokers who quit for money recorded higher levels of success than those who did it on will alone.

The study was led by Kevin Volpp of the University of Pennsylvania’s business and medical schools, and tracked 878 General Electric workers. All of them smoked an average of a pack a day, as WSJ informs, and were divided into two different groups. Members of one received $750 cash for quitting, along with several other payments spread through time to encourage them to remain smoke-free. The other group kicked the habit on will alone, without the financial incentive.

According to the findings of the study, smokers who received payment for quitting lasted more than those who didn’t. “Some 14.7% of the folks in that group stopped smoking within the first year, compared with 5% of the group that wasn’t paid. After 15 or 18 months, 9.4% in the paid group were still on the wagon, compared with 3.6% of those who got no money.” WSJ further details.

However, all the smokers included in the study were well educated people with a relatively high income, so the question of whether the financial incentive might work as well on other groups is hard to answer, it is being maintained. Another issue that has to be taken into consideration is that the payments must be made on an almost permanent basis, since nearly one third of the smokers who lasted throughout the entire duration of the study started smoking again once it ended.

This means that, should companies be contemplating this method to encourage their employees to kick the habit, they would be facing what is referred to as “impressive” costs. In turn, this has prompted again talk of whether an anti-smoking campaign and means of informing people of the consequences of smoking would be more appropriate than simply paying them to quit.