Statewide evaluation of youth access ordinances in practice: effects of the implementation of community-level regulations in Massachusetts.
The objectives of the study described in this article were to test whether community-level youth access ordinances reduce adolescents' perceived access to tobacco, purchase attempts, and tobacco use. A telephone survey was performed of a random sample of 3,831 Massachusetts adolescents linked to a database of all town-level youth access ordinances in the state. Respondents' perceived ease of access to tobacco, attempts to purchase tobacco, and tobacco use (ever smoking and current [past 30-day] smoking) were assessed. The association of these outcomes with the characteristics of youth access ordinances in the respondents' town of residence (n = 314) was tested in multilevel analyses that included town-level clustering, controlled for multiple individual and environmental characteristics, including a measure of community-level anti-smoking sentiment. Community-level youth access ordinances were not associated with adolescents' perceived access to tobacco, purchase attempts, or tobacco use, with two exceptions: (1) banning free-standing displays was associated with a 40% reduction in perceived access to tobacco (OR = 0.6; 95% CI, 0.4-0.9) and (2) a vending machine ban was associated a 30% higher report of perceived access to tobacco (OR = 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.5). This study found no consistent associations between community-level youth access ordinances and adolescents' perceived access to tobacco, purchase attempts, or smoking prevalence.
Thomson
Carey Conley
CC
Pulmonary and Critical Care Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. cthomson@partners.org
Gokhale
Manjusha
M
Biener
Lois
L
Siegel
Michael B
MB
Rigotti
Nancy A
NA
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000329:Advertising; D002648:Child; D003256:Community Participation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D012907:Smoking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014026:Nicotiana