Smoke-free workplaces and tax hikes reduce youth smoking, study says

Smoke-free zones and greater taxes on cigarettes help reduce the prevalence of smoking in teens and young adults, according to a recently published study by UC Merced and UC San Francisco.

Based on national data of 11 years (1997-2007) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, researchers found that in an environment that is 100 percent smoke-free, the probability of taking up smoking is decreased by one-third.

Anna Song, a UC Merced health psychology professor and the study’s first author, said what is most interesting is the connection between smoke-free laws in the workplace and smoking among youths. Most teens aren’t in the workforce yet, Song said, yet they are still benefiting from laws that prohibit smoking in the workplace.

She explained that because people usually pick up smoking at a young age, by implementing these smoke-free laws, children and teens are being told that smoking is typically rejected in the “adult world.”

“This tells us that kids are being sent a message: Smoking isn’t acceptable at work,” Song said. This discourages teens from picking up a habit that will have restrictions, she explained.

“That (smoke-free) laws are related to a decrease in smoking behaviors really speaks to the power of policy,” she said.

Song described laws prohibiting smoking in an enclosed space at most places of employment as one of the largest determinants of smoking. Other determinants include age, sex, race and income level, all which influence the odds of starting smoking, she said.

“Smoke-free workplace laws have the most powerful effect on smoking initiation, equivalent to the deterrent impact of a $1.57 tax increase,” said UCSF professor Stanton Glantz, the study’s lead researcher.

But it’s not just about protecting a vicinity, the researchers added, it’s knowing that when people change a behavior, such as quitting smoking, they take that behavior back home to their children.

Maria Elena Gonzalez, a public health professor at UC Merced, said one of the biggest misconceptions about smoke-free laws is that they only affect adult smoking.

“But when you think about it, the laws affect parents ... and there is some indication that parents will also implement smoke-free rules at home,” Gonzalez said.

According to the study, which was published this week in JAMA Pediatrics, during 1997-2007, smoke-free laws were becoming more commonplace. In 1997, none of the 4,000 survey respondents were covered by smoke-free workplace laws. By 2007, smoke-free laws were in effect for 27.3 percent of the respondents.

The tax increases, according to the researchers, had an impact on par with the effects of smoke-free workplace laws, with each 10-cent tax increase followed by a 3 percent drop in the odds of taking up smoking.

The data examined does not take into consideration the effects of e-cigarettes, which became popular after the end of the study.

This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Smoke-free workplaces and tax hikes reduce youth smoking, study says."