Effect of smoking regulations in local restaurants on smokers' anti-smoking attitudes and quitting behaviours.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the effect of smoking regulations in local restaurants on anti-smoking attitudes and quitting behaviours among adult smokers.


METHODS
Hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) was used to assess the relationship between baseline strength of town-level restaurant smoking regulation and follow-up (1) perceptions of the social acceptability of smoking and (2) quitting behaviours.


METHODS
Each of the 351 Massachusetts towns was classified as having strong (complete smoking ban) or weak (all other and no smoking restrictions) restaurant smoking regulations.


METHODS
1712 adult smokers of Massachusetts aged > or = 18 years at baseline who were interviewed via random-digit-dial telephone survey in 2001-2 and followed up 2 years later.


METHODS
Perceived social acceptability of smoking in restaurants and bars, and making a quit attempt and quitting smoking.


RESULTS
Among adult smokers who had made a quit attempt at baseline, living in a town with a strong regulation was associated with a threefold increase in the odds of making a quit attempt at follow-up (OR = 3.12; 95% CI 1.51 to 6.44). Regulation was found to have no effect on cessation at follow-up. A notable, although marginal, effect of regulation was observed for perceiving smoking in bars as socially unacceptable only among smokers who reported at baseline that smoking in bars was socially unacceptable.


CONCLUSIONS
Although local restaurant smoking regulations did not increase smoking cessation rates, they did increase the likelihood of making a quit attempt among smokers who had previously tried to quit, and seem to reinforce anti-social smoking norms among smokers who already viewed smoking in bars as socially unacceptable.
Albers
Alison B
AB
Social and Behavioral Sciences Department, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany Street, TW2, Boston, MA 02118, USA. aalbers@bu.edu
Siegel
Michael
M
Cheng
Debbie M
DM
Biener
Lois
L
Rigotti
Nancy A
NA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D012147:Restaurants / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012907:Smoking / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*; D012945:Social Values; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors