In this paper we explore the effect public policy on the extent to which genes may influence smoking desistance. Using a sample of adult twins (nmz=363, ndz=233) from a large population registry, we estimate Cox proportional hazards models that describe similarity in the timing of smoking desistance among adult twin pairs and we show that identical twin pairs are significantly more likely to quit smoking within a similar time frame compared to fraternal twin pairs. Importantly, we then show that genetic factors for smoking desistance increase in importance following restrictive legislation on smoking behaviors that occurred in the early and mid 1970s. These findings support the social push perspective and make important contributions to the social demography and genetic epidemiology of smoking as well as to the gene-environment interaction literatures.
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