趣談英國:爲什麼女性比男性更喜歡吸菸?

Women smoking - they've overtaken men in the habit in the north east partly because of influences on girls which are 'more insidious than mere peer pressure'.

英國東北部的女性比男性更嗜好抽菸，部分由於女性“對社交壓力更敏感”。

Their survey has just found that women smokers now outnumber men in the region, which according to Dr Andrew Russell of the uni's Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilienceis globally rare. Stress and its worsening by recession almost certainly play a part, but why more on women? What other causes may there be? Andrew Russell.

博士進行了一項“危害、風險和恢復力”的調查，調查結果發現，女性吸菸人數在該地區已經超過男性，而這一現象在全球非常罕見。由於經濟不景氣而造成的巨大壓力是導致吸菸人數上升的一大原因，但爲什麼增多的吸菸者會是女性？這背後還有什麼其他原因嗎？

A public discussion tomorrow, Tuesday, organised by the institute and Durham city's Forum for Health hopes to make some progress in finding out. It's being held at the Dales Suite, Collingwood College, Durham University and organisers are looking for leads to new empirical studies, as well as giving their own opinions and hearing others.

學院組織了一次公開討論會，將於明天即週二展開。達拉謨城市的健康搜查論壇希望經過這次討論會，能夠對導致女性吸菸人數居高不下的原因有所發現。此次討論會選址於達拉謨大學考林伍德學院中的Dales套房，發起者們希望能探討出一條引領大家通往新的實證研究的道路，同時也將在會議中表達各自的觀點、聆聽他人的想法。

Here's what Dr Russell says in advance:

下面是Russell博士的事先講話：

"Men's smoking rates have declined dramatically over the past few years in the north east and now appear to be lower than the national average. Women's have not declined nearly so fast - they appear to have plateaued at a level higher than the national average.”

“近幾年，東北地區的男性吸菸率已大幅下降，目前已降至英國平均吸菸率以下。而女性吸菸率並沒有這麼迅速的削減，目前已大致穩定在一個高於平均吸菸率的水平。”

“Smoking rates are highest in areas of greatest economic deprivation and also go up in times of need to consider whether for some women, smoking is a response to stress in their lives,one of the few 'pleasures' that are relatively easily acquired.”

“那些經濟匱乏最嚴重的地區往往也是吸菸率最高的地區，並且隨着經濟衰退吸菸率逐漸上升。我們要考慮的是，對於女性而言，她們是否將吸菸作爲生活壓力的一種應對方式，一種少有的又較易獲得的方式。”

"but the tobacco industry has had a large part to play in encouraging more women to take up smoking by perpetuating the myth of smoking as glamorous, risqué and a form of brands come out all the time specifically aimed at women."

"但是菸草業卻在誘使更多女性吸菸方面有着很大功勞，他們素來將吸菸這一行爲美化成迷人而又叛逆的。針對女性的菸草品牌也總是層出不窮地出現。”

"We're proposing a cross-cultural study looking at women's relationship to tobacco in other societies in order to understand how best to tackle the situation in the North East of England. I'll be outlining my plans at the meeting."

“我們提出了一個跨文化的課題，主要關於其他社會中女性與吸菸的關係，我們希望以此來了解怎樣能最便利地解決英國東北地區的情況。屆時我會在討論中列舉出我的具體計劃。”

His colleague Dr Sue Lewis has meanwhile specialised on trying to find out why women and girls are getting the habit so young. She says:

同時，他的同事Sue Lewis博士，正在研究女性和女孩養成這一陋習如此之早的原因。

"We need to understand the particular issues faced by young smokers – and those trying not to be smokers – in disadvantaged communities; what particular pressures they faced when they started smoking, what factors encouraged continued smoking and what makes it particularly difficult to quit. ”

“我們要了解年輕吸菸者所面臨的具體問題，以及那些生活在貧困地區的不想成爲煙鬼的人們。究竟是什麼樣的壓力讓他們開始吸菸？又是什麼樣的因素促使他們持續不斷地吸？讓戒菸變得如此之難？”