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Environmental Smoking Restrictions and Light Cigarette Adoption Among Chinese Urban Smokers

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Abstract

Light cigarette adoption involves complex psychological and behavioral processes with many underlying factors. While numerous studies have shown that environmental restrictions on smoking are associated with higher probability of smoking cessation, it is also possible that some smokers may switch from regular to light cigarettes due to environmental pressures. The current study evaluates whether smoking restrictions in households, workplaces, and public places were respectively associated with light cigarette adoption. A cross-sectional multistage sampling process was used to recruit participants and collect data about demographics and smoking characteristics and environmental restriction variables. Multiple logistic models were employed to examine the association between environmental smoking restrictions and light cigarette adoption. Of 4735 respondents, 1592 (30.3 %) were current smokers, and 69.7 % (N = 1141) of the smokers were identified as light cigarette adopters. In a multivariate model, smoking restrictions in households, workplaces, and public places were significantly associated with higher light cigarette adoption. Under environmental smoking restrictions, which pose unique challenges to tobacco control efforts, light cigarette adoption may increase. The study findings are essential for health policy makers in designing and implementing targeted smoking cessation interventions and health education programs.

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Acknowledgments

This study was partly funded by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (71473221), Ministry of Health Tobacco Control Project (WJF: 081216), Center for Tobacco Control research, Zhejiang University School of Medicine. We thank local teams from the “Building advocacy capacity for tobacco control among the public health workforce project in China” (supported by the Union) for the data collection. The collaboration of Dr. Oliffe was made possible through the University of British Columbia Travel Fund for the International Workshop Supporting New Smoking Approaches for Chinese Men (no. PG 62R26277).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Correspondence to Tingzhong Yang.

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Yang, T., Jiang, S., Oliffe, J.L. et al. Environmental Smoking Restrictions and Light Cigarette Adoption Among Chinese Urban Smokers. Prev Sci 16, 801–810 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-014-0541-8

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