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The Association Between School Tobacco Control Policies and Youth Smoking Behavior

International Journal of Behavioral Medicine volume 26, pages 658–664 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

While U.S. tobacco control policy has focused mainly on tobacco excise taxes, product advertising bans, and state tobacco control policies such as indoor/outdoor smoking bans, little attention has been paid to school tobacco control policies and their impact on youth smoking behavior. Thus, the objective of this study is to examine the impact of school tobacco control policies on smoking behavior among teenagers and young adults in the USA.

Methods

Using logistic regression approach, this study examines the effect of school tobacco control policies on individuals ever trying smoking and ever being a regular smoker using data from waves I, II, and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

Results

Findings indicate that school tobacco control policies targeting both students and employees of the school are associated with a reduced odds of smoking initiation among youth, but do not have much effect on youth becoming regular smokers.

Conclusions

If implemented properly, school tobacco control policies could play a vital role in preventing youth smoking and help reduce youth smoking rates in the country, addressing a key public health issue.

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Funding

No funding was received for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Pharmacy, University of Georgia, 250 West Green Street, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Jayani Jayawardhana

  2. Emory Healthcare, 101 W. Ponce De Leon Ave, Decatur, GA, 30030, USA

    Haley E. Bolton

  3. School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, PO Box 872402, Tempe, AZ, 85287-2402, USA

    Monica Gaughan

Authors
  1. Jayani Jayawardhana
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  2. Haley E. Bolton
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  3. Monica Gaughan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jayani Jayawardhana.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Research Involving Human Participants and/or Animals

This research is a secondary data analysis and does not involve any human subject participants or animals.

Informed Consent

Since this research involves only a secondary data analysis, the researchers collected no primary data, thus researchers for this study collected no consent.

Human Subject Approval Statement

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Georgia.

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Jayawardhana, J., Bolton, H.E. & Gaughan, M. The Association Between School Tobacco Control Policies and Youth Smoking Behavior. Int.J. Behav. Med. 26, 658–664 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-019-09825-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-019-09825-z

Keywords

  • Youth smoking
  • School smoking policies
  • Tobacco control
  • Smoking cessation