If you're trying to give up cigarettes but can't manage to quit, surround yourself with non-smokers.

New research by scientists at Indiana University shows that young people who want to stop smoking are more successful if they are not exposed to cigarettes at home or work.

"Things around you influence your behavior" Jon Macy, the project director at the university, said in an interview.

While nicotine patches, gum and lozenges are popular methods to help smokers quit, the research published in the American Journal of Public Health found a smoker's immediate environment plays a defining role.

Macy said cigarette dependence is similar to a chronic disease and must be treated accordingly.

"Just like any chronic disease it's not something that just can be cured easily like an infectious disease where you take antibiotics and it takes care of it. It's something that has to be treated over the long term".

Although some countries and states have issued smoking bans in public places, the researchers said cigarette smoking is on the rise among young adults between the ages of 18 to 25 in the United States.

They added that the trend adds urgency to research efforts to identify ways to help young smokers quit because smoking is a leading cause of preventable death.

The researchers selected 327 young people between the ages of 18 to 24 as part of a follow up to an ongoing smoking survey that started in 1980.

It initially involved 8,556 participants from grades six to 12. The 327 were selected because they all had managed to quit smoking as young adults, but some of them relapsed.