Support and correlates of support for banning smoking in cars with children: findings from the ITC Four Country Survey.
BACKGROUND
Since 2006, banning smoking in cars with children has become a rapidly growing tobacco control policy. However, to date, there have been few studies examining support and correlates of support for car smoking bans, and none of the existing studies have been international in nature. We conducted such a study among smokers in four countries.


METHODS
6716 adult current smokers from the 2007 Wave of the International Tobacco Control Four Country Survey, a nationally representative, longitudinal cohort telephone survey of smokers in the USA, Canada, UK and Australia. Controlling for demographics, heaviness of smoking, smoking health knowledge/beliefs and quit intentions, we compared support and correlates of support for banning smoking in cars with children across the four countries.


RESULTS
The majority of smokers supported banning smoking in cars with children. Support was highest in Australia (83%), followed by the UK (75%) and Canada (74%); support was lower-but still high-in the USA (60%). Support was highest among smokers who: had stronger quit intentions, were lighter smokers, had lower education, had no children in the home, believed that cigarette smoke is dangerous to non-smokers and could cause asthma in children, and were concerned about modelling smoking to children.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that a majority of smokers in the four countries support banning smoking in cars with children, and lend support to banning smoking in cars with children. Additionally, they suggest that support may be increased by educating smokers about the dangers of cigarette smoke exposure.
Hitchman
Sara C
SC
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada. schitchm@uwaterloo.ca
Fong
Geoffrey T
GT
Zanna
Mark P
MP
Hyland
Andrew
A
Bansal-Travers
Maansi
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D001336:Automobiles; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003254:Consumer Advocacy; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
D014028:Tobacco Smoke Pollution