Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #116969

Cindy Tworek, PhD, MPH¹, Gary A. Giovino, PhD², K. Michael Cummings, PhD, MPH², Andrew Hyland, PhD², and Frank Chaloupka, PhD³. (1) Health Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm & Carlton Streets, Buffalo, NY 14224, 716-845-4407, cindy.tworek@roswellpark.org, (2) Department of Health Behavior, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm & Carlton Streets, Buffalo, NY 14263, (3) Health Research and Policy Centers (M/C 275), University of Illinois at Chicago, 850 West Jackson Blvd, Suite 400, Chicago, IL 60607-3025

Despite recent increases in legislation restricting minors' possession, use, and purchase (PUP) of tobacco products, evaluation of PUP laws, and their enforcement, remains minimal. This study collected state and local PUP enforcement data, via key informant interviews, to analyze the association of PUP laws, with enforcement, and youth smoking behavior from nationally representative 8th, 10th, and 12th grade Monitoring the Future student data (N=29,362). Logit analyses assessed associations of state and local PUP enforcement with youth smoking behavior, controlling for state and local PUP enforcement, demographic variables, and state tobacco policy variables. State PUP laws were not consistently associated with youth smoking behavior or attitudes, while local possession ordinances were associated with lower odds of current smoking and increased odds of anti-smoking attitudes, especially in the absence of state possession laws. However, PUP enforcement did not have a consistent dose-response relationship with youth smoking behavior or attitudes. Findings do not consistently support PUP laws as effective tobacco control policies to discourage youth smoking, and suggest that in a tobacco control environment with increasingly limited money and resources, efforts should focus on policies that consistently affect youth smoking behavior, such as: increasing cigarette price, stronger smoke-free air laws, and strong anti-tobacco mass-media campaigns.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate the enforcement of both state and local tobacco possession, use, and purchase laws
• Assess the relationship of state and local PUP enforcement and youth smoking behavior

Keywords: Tobacco Policy, Youth Access

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.