Household smoking bans and adolescent antismoking attitudes and smoking initiation: findings from a longitudinal study of a Massachusetts youth cohort

Abstract

Objectives: We sought to determine whether adolescents living in households in which smoking was banned were more likely to develop antismoking attitudes and less likely to progress to smoking compared with those living in households in which smoking was not banned.

Methods: We completed a longitudinal 4-year, 3-wave study of a representative sample of 3834 Massachusetts youths aged 12 to 17 years at baseline; 2791 (72.8%) were reinterviewed after 2 years, and 2217 (57.8%) were reinterviewed after 4 years. We used a 3-level hierarchical linear model to analyze the effect of a household ban on antismoking attitudes and smoking behaviors.

Results: The absence of a household smoking ban increased the odds that youths perceived a high prevalence of adult smoking, among both youths living with a smoker (odds ratio [OR] = 1.56; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.15, 2.13) and those living with nonsmokers (OR = 1.75; 95% CI = 1.29, 2.37). Among youths who lived with nonsmokers, those with no home ban were more likely to transition from nonsmoking to early experimentation (OR = 1.89; 95% CI = 1.30, 2.74) than were those with a ban.

Conclusions: Home smoking bans may promote antismoking attitudes among youths and reduce progression to smoking experimentation among youths who live with nonsmokers.