Why some men smoke and others do not has never been adequately explained. The question has some medical relevance now that heavy smoking has been shown to have relationship to lung cancer and possibly to coronary disease and since there have been certain therapeutic indications for the control of smoking. It is at least theoretically possible that smoking is often a symptom or sign of physiologic or personality characteristics which themselves may influence disease. The opportunity has recently come to explore some data already collected in respect to differences of physique, physiology, and personality between smokers and nonsmokers. This is a part of a larger study of smoking habits. Charles C. McArthur, Ph.D., is preparing material from the same source on the psychodynamics of smoking,1 and Carl C. Seltzer, Ph.D., on physique of smokers.
The group under study comprises 252 college graduates, now in the age range of 33