Smokers report more stress, depression, worry, anger, sadness

WASHINGTON, June 30 (UPI) -- U.S. adult who smoke are more likely to report feeling stressed, depressed, worried, angry and sad than non-smokers, a survey indicates.

The Emotional Health Index is a sub-component of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index conducted Jan. 3-June 18. The index includes 10 items, asking respondents whether they experienced the following "during a lot of the day yesterday": smiling or laughter, learning or doing something interesting, being treated with respect, enjoyment, happiness, worry, sadness, anger and stress -- and clinical diagnosis of depression.

Smokers were much more likely than non-smokers to report feeling stressed a lot of the day "yesterday" -- 50 percent versus 37 percent. Smokers were also more likely than non-smokers to say they experienced worry, anger, and sadness a lot of the day "yesterday."

It is not clear whether experiencing these negative emotions leads people to start or continue smoking, or whether smoking made smokers more likely to report experiencing these negative emotions, Gallup said.

Twenty-six percent of smokers reported ever being clinically diagnosed with depression compared with 15 percent of non-smokers.

Smokers were also less likely than non-smokers to report experiencing positive emotions including enjoyment, happiness, smiling or laughter.

The survey of 83,443 U.S. adults has a margin of error of 0.21 percentage points, while the results for the total sample of smoking population has a margin of error 1.09 percentage points.