Association between home smoking restrictions and changes in smoking behaviour among employed women

Abstract

Study objective: Examine trends in home smoking restrictions among employed women not living alone and assess the associations of such restrictions with smoking behaviour.

Design: Multivariate logistic regression analysis of major demographic variables and household composition characteristics.

Study participants: 128 024 employed female respondents to the Census Bureau’s current population survey over the 10 year period 1992 to 2002.

Main results: The prevalence of smoke free homes has increased significantly over the past decade. This increase was evident across all demographic and household characteristics examined with the greatest rate of increase seen among smoking households. Nearly 90% of households consisting of all never smoking adult members reported having a smoke free home in 2001–02 compared with 22% of households consisting of all smokers. The extent of smoking restrictions in the home was the most powerful determinant of cessation of all the factors examined in the regression model. Odds of becoming a former smoker (any length) and quit for three months or more were seven to eight times greater among those women reporting their homes were smoke free compared with those whose homes permitted smoking anywhere in the home.

Conclusions: Smoke free homes were associated with a highly significant increase in quitting (p<0.0001). However, at this time it is not clear what proportion of the observed effect can be attributed to living in a smoke free home. None the less, the significantly increased probability of quitting correlated with having a smoke free home found in this analysis, are substantially higher than the odds reported in most workplace studies published to date; additional studies are needed to elucidate this relation.