Personal space smoking restrictions among African Americans

Am J Prev Med. 2005 Jan;28(1):33-40. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2004.09.025.

Abstract

Objectives: This paper investigates the association between implementing a personal space smoking restriction for the home or automobile, and various sociodemographic, social, behavioral, and attitudinal variables.

Methods: Approximately 1000 African-American adults (aged >18 years) residing in non-institutionalized settings were randomly selected using a cross-sectional stratified cluster sample of ten U.S. congressional districts represented by African Americans.

Results: A 62.0% and 70.4% ban was found, respectively, on smoking in homes and cars. Multivariate analysis revealed that region, marital status, number of friends who smoked, beliefs about environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), and smoking status predicted home smoking bans, while age, number of children in household, number of friends who smoked, and beliefs about ETS and smoking status predicted car smoking bans.

Conclusions: Results suggest that a substantial segment of African Americans have accepted and translated public policy concerns about ETS into practice and reveal other variables that could be targeted in future interventions to increase implementation of personal space smoking restrictions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Automobiles
  • Black or African American / ethnology
  • Black or African American / statistics & numerical data
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Demography
  • Female
  • Health Behavior
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
  • Housing
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Personal Space
  • Smoking Cessation / ethnology*
  • Smoking Cessation / statistics & numerical data
  • Social Control, Informal*
  • Tobacco Smoke Pollution / statistics & numerical data*
  • United States / epidemiology

Substances

  • Tobacco Smoke Pollution