Understanding the Relationship Between Smoking and Place in Private Shared Spaces Through the Lens of Place Attachment: An Extended Abstract

Abstract

The personal risks associated with smoking cigarettes are well documented (e.g., Doll et al. 2004), and the gathering of an evidence base for the health effects of secondhand smoke (SHS) has been a long-standing objective of public health researchers (e.g., see Barnes and Bero 1998). Homes continue to be unregulated areas where non-smokers living with smokers suffer high levels of SHS (Öberg et al. 2011). The increased awareness of the dangers of SHS is prompting developers and homeowners to take action to restrict smoking in private homes. Examples include two cities in California, USA, which have passed laws prohibiting smoking inside multiunit residential buildings (McKinley 2009), and many projects have been set up around the world (e.g., Canada, the UK) to encourage smoke-free housing (Action on Smoking and Health 2015). As a response to the awareness of SHS and its associated risks, many countries around the world have enacted legislation of varying strength to regulate places where smoking is permitted. To date academic research has mainly focused on evaluation of smoke-free legislation and understanding smoking in public spaces but has neglected research on gaining an understanding of the complex issues surrounding smoking in private shared places. There is little research on how smokers’ behaviors in their homes and cars have adapted in response to public smoking restrictions and how these changes have affected their relationship with their smoking sites. Thus the purpose of this research is to seek answers to the following research questions: