Home smoking bans among U.S. households with children and smokers. Opportunities for intervention

Abstract

Background: Public health campaigns have reduced the exposure of U.S. children to secondhand smoke at home; however, these may not have been equally effective across subgroups.

Purpose: To examine prevalence of home smoking bans among U.S. households with both children and smokers, over time and by demographic subgroups.

Methods: The Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (TUS-CPS) is a nationally representative household survey of tobacco use. The 1992/1993 and 2006/2007 TUS-CPS interviewed 22,746 households from a major racial/ethnic group with both children and adult smokers. Predictors of complete home smoking bans among demographic subgroups were identified using multivariate logistic regression. Analyses were conducted in 2010-2011.

Results: Complete home smoking bans among U.S. households with children and smokers (smoking families) more than tripled, from 14.1% in 1992/1993 to 50.0% in 2006/2007. However, non-Hispanic white and African-American smoking families lagged behind Asian/Pacific Islanders and Hispanics. In 2006/2007, 67.2% of African-American smoking families allowed smoking in the home, as did 59.2% of smoking families with all children aged ≥14 years. Bans were more likely among more-educated households and in states with lower adult smoking prevalence; however, these differences were attenuated in some racial/ethnic groups.

Conclusions: As of 2006/2007, only half of U.S. households with both children and smokers had complete home smoking bans. Home bans were less common among smoking families with older children, in African-American households, and in Hispanic or non-Hispanic white households in states with high smoking prevalence. Interventions are needed to promote smoke-free homes among these groups.