Employment status was related to the three mediating variables but not to the quitting outcome variables. Those who were unemployed were more likely to have low self-efficacy to quit, more Vandetanib hypothyroidism addicted and marginally more likely to have no interest in quitting. When the SES index was used instead, the results indicated that urban Chinese smokers from lower SES backgrounds were less likely to have confidence in being able to quit smoking, have less interest in quitting, and were more addicted to nicotine than those from higher SES backgrounds. Consistent with the individual indicators results, the SES index was not significantly related to making quit attempts or quit maintenance. Table 2.

Direct and Indirect Effect of Education and Income on Quit Attempts and Quit Success Among Those Who Tried Mediated Effect of SES on Quitting Behavior As shown in Table 2, the mediation analyses revealed that there was a significant indirect effect, but no significant direct effect of SES measures on making quit attempts (i.e., the inhibiting effect of low SES on quit attempts was indirect via the three mediating variables where low SES smokers characterized by a low quitting self-efficacy, low quit interest, and high nicotine addiction were less likely to make a subsequent quit attempt). The parameter estimates for the indirect effects of SES index on quit attempts via low self-efficacy, low quitting interest, and nicotine dependence are 0.0060 (bootstrap bias-corrected [BC] 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.0021 to 0.0109), 0.0072 (BC 95% CI: 0.0020 to 0.0138), and 0.0059 (BC 95% CI: 0.

0034 to 0.0096), respectively, and the total indirect effect is 0.0191 (BC 95% CI: 0.0109 to 0.0287). For quit success, again there was no direct but only indirect effect of the SES variables, and of the three potential mediators, only HSI was significantly related to quit success. The parameter estimates for the indirect effects of SES index on quit success via low self-efficacy, low quit interest, and nicotine dependence are ?0.0005 (BC 95% CI: ?0.0080 to 0.0007), ?0.0002 (BC 95% CI: ?0.0055 to 0.0013), and 0.0149 (BC 95% CI: 0.0071 to 0.0260), respectively, and the total indirect effect is 0.0142 (BC 95% CI: 0.0057 to 0.0248). DISCUSSION The findings from this study provide evidence to show firstly, that like many other countries both in the West and in Asia, Chinese smokers from lower socio-economic backgrounds are less confident in being able to quit smoking, have lower interest in quitting, and are more addicted to Anacetrapib smoking than their counterparts from higher socio-economic backgrounds, and secondly, that such characteristics are part of the reasons why those from more disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to quit smoking.