Smoking Behavior--Influenced By What Others
Think
October 27, 2008
A growing amount of research is finding that smoke-free air laws help smokers
quit or reduce the amount that they smoke. Rather than changing smokers' own
attitudes about smoking, the influence of the policies, particularly the strong
ones, might lie more in changing smokers' perceptions of other people's
attitudes about smoking -- changing the perceived social norms, according to an
Indiana University study involving smoke-free air laws in four Texas
communities.
"Everyone knows it's unhealthy to smoke," said Jon Macy, the study's
lead researcher. "Our study suggests that the success of strong smoke-free
air policies may be more about changing the social acceptability of
smoking."
The IU study used a telephone survey of 407 adults to compare perceived norms
about smoking between adults living in two cities with strong smoke-free air
laws and adults living in two cities with weak smoke-free air laws. Those who
lived in cities with a strong smoke-free air law perceived a lower prevalence of
smoking in their city, were less likely to report that other people in their
city believed smoking was acceptable, and were more likely to report that people
in their city believed that smokers should take measures to not smoke. Macy said
that while researchers are aware that smoke-free air policies, which are
designed primarily to protect the public from the harm of secondhand tobacco
smoke, also influence smoking behavior, the mechanism or cause has not been
nailed down.
This study offers one possible explanation. Macy said insights provided by this
study could help with public communication messages that accompany smoke-free
air policies. The messages, for example, could tap into the impact societal
norms have on smoking behavior.
Rachel Gross, with the Center for Applied Behavioral and Evaluation Research at
the Academy for Educational Development, will discuss the findings on Monday,
Oct. 27, at 4:30 p.m. The study was supported by the National Cancer Institute.
Co-authors include Macy, Gross, Susan E. Middestadt, Department of Applied
Health Science in IU's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation;
Nathan Stupiansky, Department of Applied Health Science in IU's School of HPER;
and Jesse Gelwicks, Center for Applied Behavioral and Evaluation Research at the
Academy for Educational Development.
American
Public Health Association Meeting
Source
Indiana
University
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