Associations between smoking trajectories, smoke-free laws and cigarette taxes in a longitudinal sample of youth and young adults

Abstract

Cigarette smoking patterns vary within the population, with some individuals remaining never smokers, some remaining occasional users, and others progressing to daily use or quitting. There is little research on how population-level tobacco control policy interventions affect individuals within different smoking trajectories. We identified associations between tobacco control policy interventions and changes across different smoking trajectories among adolescents and young adults. Using 15 annual waves of data drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), we applied a group-based trajectory model to identify associations between days smoked per month, comprehensive smoke-free laws, cigarette tax rates, and known socio-demographic risk factors for membership in different smoking trajectories. Comprehensive smoke-free laws were associated with reduced risk of initiation and reductions in days smoked per month for all trajectories other than occasional users. Higher tax rates were associated with reduced risk of initiation and days smoked for all trajectories other than established users. Overall, population-based tobacco control policies, particularly comprehensive smoke-free laws, were associated with reduced smoking. Tobacco taxes primarily reduced risk of initiation and use among never smokers, experimenters, and quitters, consistent with previous research suggesting that tobacco manufacturers lower prices after tax increases to reduce the cost of continued smoking for established users. These results provide support for expanding smoke-free laws and establishing a minimum tobacco floor price, which could improve public health by reducing the risk of initiation as well as use among occasional and established smokers.

Impact of the policy environment on substance use among sexual minority women

“…We created a binary variable based on whether states had comprehensive smoke-free workplace laws (yes/no), which prohibit smoking in all public places and workplaces, including restaurants and bars ( n = 28 out of 51 states). We selected this variable based on research documenting a robust protective relationship of comprehensive smoke-free laws with tobacco use including reduced initiation, lower prevalence of smoking, as well as reduction in amount of smoking ( Apollonio et al, 2021 ; Azagba et al, 2020 ). Comprehensive smoke-free laws also demonstrated stronger effects than tobacco taxes across a wider range of smoking patterns ( Apollonio et al, 2021 ).…”

“…We selected this variable based on research documenting a robust protective relationship of comprehensive smoke-free laws with tobacco use including reduced initiation, lower prevalence of smoking, as well as reduction in amount of smoking ( Apollonio et al, 2021 ; Azagba et al, 2020 ). Comprehensive smoke-free laws also demonstrated stronger effects than tobacco taxes across a wider range of smoking patterns ( Apollonio et al, 2021 ).…”

An analysis of e-cigarette and polysubstance use patterns of adolescents in Bangkok, Thailand

“…Products are advertised as having a good aroma, coming from non-toxic dried fruit, absent of nicotine, non-addictive, and can help tobacco addicts to quit smoking 10 . However, there is no reliable research with sufficient sample size of sufficient duration to conclude that e-cigarettes are effective in aiding cessation of traditional cigarette smoking 11 , 12 .…”

Illicit trade in tobacco products: recent trends and coming challenges

“…It is likely that factors behind the decrease in absolute cigarette consumption are the uptake of non-price measures, many of which would have suppressed demand for legal and illicit tobacco alike,9 10 and the reduction in the affordability of cigarettes. A way to measure affordability is by using the relative income price (RIP), which is the percentage of the per capita GDP required to buy 100 packs of cigarettes 11.…”