When Circumstances Are Stronger Than Habits: How Financial Stress Affects Smoking Cessation
HSE researchers have found that the likelihood of quitting smoking rises with increasing financial struggles. While low levels of financial difficulties do not affect smoking behaviour, moderate financial stress can increase the probability of quitting by 13% to 21%. Responses to high financial stress differ by gender: men are almost 1.5 times more likely to give up cigarettes than under normal conditions, whereas no significant effect is observed on women’s decisions to quit smoking. These conclusions are based on data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE) for 2000–2023 and have been published in Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes.
According to the Russian Ministry of Health, since the mid-1990s the proportion of smokers in Russia has almost halved, falling from 31% to 18.5%. Nevertheless, quitting smoking remains a challenge for many. According to the World Health Organization, hundreds of millions of smokers worldwide want to quit tobacco but struggle to do so. One factor that can both facilitate and hinder smoking cessation is financial stress.
Alina Biryukova, a doctoral student at the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences, analysed data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE) covering the period from 2000 to 2023. Her study included more than 4,200 employed respondents. To measure financial stress, the author constructed an index based on four indicators: reductions in wages or working hours, forced unpaid leave, wage arrears, and unpaid housing and utility bills.
Depending on the combination of these factors, financial stress was classified as absent, low, moderate, or high. The model also accounted for respondents’ age, marital status, parental status, education level, and self-assessed health and income.
The results show that the effect of financial difficulties on smoking cessation is complex and differs between men and women. Low levels of financial stress do not affect the likelihood of quitting smoking. By contrast, moderate financial stress increases the probability of quitting—by 13.1% for men and 21.1% for women. Under high financial stress, men are much more likely to quit smoking, with the probability rising by 56.6%. For women, this effect is not statistically significant, indicating gender differences in responses to severe financial stress.
According to the author, the observed differences in how men and women respond to financial stress can be explained by several factors. One is the influence of gender stereotypes: men are often expected not to express their emotions and may acknowledge stress only when it becomes severe. Previous studies have also identified barriers more typical for women, including greater vulnerability to nicotine dependence linked to hormonal changes, depression, and anxiety, which more often trigger relapses. In addition, social factors—such as fear of weight gain—may further hinder smoking cessation among women.
The researcher also examined the impact of four economic crises in Russia—2008–2009, 2014–2015, 2020–2021, and 2022–2023. The findings show that economic crises alone do not necessarily lead to smoking cessation. For example, during the 2008–2009 crisis, men were more likely to quit smoking, while no noticeable effect was observed among women. The pandemic-related crisis of 2020–2021 did not affect the likelihood of quitting smoking for either men or women. In contrast, the 2014–2015 crisis, which coincided with the tightening of anti-tobacco policies, was associated with noticeable changes in smokers’ behaviour, with many people giving up cigarettes during this period. This underscores the importance of the institutional context and of choosing the right moment to implement public policy measures. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that economic instability can influence the effectiveness of regulatory restrictions.
Alina Biryukova
'Legislation plays a key role only when combined with an economic crisis, as economic decline alone often reduces motivation to quit smoking. Policy measures amplify this effect, making smoking cessation a more rational choice under conditions of instability,' comments Biryukova.
See also:
The 'Second Shift' Is Not Why Women Avoid News
Women are more likely than men to avoid political and economic news, but the reasons for this behaviour are linked less to structural inequality or family-related stress than to personal attitudes and the emotional perception of news content. This conclusion was reached by HSE researchers after analysing data from a large-scale survey of more than 10,000 residents across 61 regions of Russia. The study findings have been published in Woman in Russian Society.
Resource Race and Green Transition: Three Unexpected Conclusions from Foresight Centre’s Research on Climate and Poverty
Beneath the surface of green energy—which most people associate with solar panels, electric vehicles, and reduced CO2 emissions—lies a complex web of geopolitical interests, international inequality, and resource constraints. Researchers from the Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies (LST) at the HSE ISSEK Foresight Centre have published a series of articles in leading international journals on hidden and overt conflicts surrounding critically important metals and minerals, as well as related processes in the energy sector.
Immersion in Second Language Environment Influences Bilinguals’ Perception of Emotions
Researchers at the Cognitive Health and Intelligence Centre at the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience have discovered how bilingual individuals process emotional words in their native (first) and non-native (second) languages. It was found that the link between word meaning and bodily sensations is weaker in a second language than in a first language. However, the more a person is immersed in a language environment, the smaller this difference becomes. The article has been published in Language, Cognition and Neuroscience.
Researchers Find More Effective Approach to Revealing Majorana Zero Modes in Superconductors
An international team of researchers, including physicists from HSE MIEM, has demonstrated that nonmagnetic impurities can help more accurately reveal Majorana zero modes—quantum states considered promising building blocks for quantum computing. The researchers found that these impurities shift the energy levels that typically obscure the Majorana signal, while leaving the mode itself largely unaffected, thereby making its spectral peak more distinct. The study has been published in Research.
New Development by HSE Scientists Helps Design Reliable Electronics Faster at a Lower Cost
Scientists from HSE MIEM have developed a new approach to modelling electrothermal processes in high-power electronic circuits on printed circuit boards (PCB). The method allows engineers to quickly and accurately predict how electronic components heat up during operation, helping prevent overheating and potential failures. The results have been published in Russian Microelectronics.
The Future of Cardiogenetics Lies in Artificial Intelligence
Researchers from the AI and Digital Science Institute at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science have developed a program capable of analysing regions of the human genome that were previously inaccessible for accurate interpretation in genetic testing. The program adapts large generative AI (GenAI) models for cardiogenetics to predict how specific mutations affect the function of individual genes.
HSE Researchers: Young Russians Have Sufficient Knowledge About Money but Lack Money Management Skills
Adolescents and young adults in Russia today are well versed in financial terminology: they know what bank cards, loans, interest rates, and online payments are. However, as researchers at HSE University have found, real money-management skills remain poorly developed among most young people. The study ‘Financial Literacy, Financial Culture, and Financial Autonomy of Youth’ has been published in Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes.
Why Weaker Competitors Give Up—and How to Keep Them in the Game
Anastasia Antsygina, Assistant Professor at HSE University’s Faculty of Economic Sciences, has developed a prize distribution model that maximises competitor engagement. She proposed revising the traditional ‘winner-takes-all’ approach and, in certain cases, offering a small reward even to those who have lost. According to her, this could increase participant motivation and make the competition more intense. The findings of her research were published in the Economic Theory journal.
HSE Researchers Compile Scientific Database for Studying Children’s Eating Habits
The database created at HSE University can serve as a foundation for studying children’s eating habits. This is outlined in the study ‘The Influence of Age, Gender, and Social-Role Factors on Children’s Compliance with Age-Based Nutritional Norms: An Experimental Study Using the Dish-I-Wish Web Application.’ The work has been carried out as part of the HSE Basic Research Programme and was presented at the XXVI April International Academic Conference named after Evgeny Yasin.
New Foresight Centre Study Identifies the Most Destructive Global Trends for Humankind
A team of researchers from the HSE International Research and Educational Foresight Centre has examined how global trends affect the quality of human life—from life expectancy to professional fulfilment. The findings of the study titled ‘Human Capital Transformation under the Influence of Global Trends’ were published in Foresight.