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Volume 100, Issue 1 (January 2010)
Theresa L. Osypuk and Dolores Acevedo-Garcia Support for Smoke-Free Policies: A Nationwide Analysis of Immigrants, US-Born, and Other Demographic Groups, 1995–2002. American Journal of Public Health: January 2010, Vol. 100, No. 1, pp. 171-181.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.160218

Accepted on: May 6, 2009

Support for Smoke-Free Policies: A Nationwide Analysis of Immigrants, US-Born, and Other Demographic Groups, 1995–2002

Theresa L. Osypuk, SD, SM, and Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, PhD, MPA-URP

The authors are with the Department of Health Sciences, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA.

Correspondence should be sent to Theresa L. Osypuk, SD, SM, Northeastern University, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Department of Health Sciences, 316 Robinson Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115 (e-mail: ). Reprints can be ordered at http://www.ajph.org by clicking the “Reprints/Eprints” link.

Peer Reviewed

Contributors

T. L. Osypuk originated the study, conducted the analysis, and wrote the article. D. Acevedo-Garcia advised on the analysis and edited the article.



ABSTRACT

Objectives. We examined whether support for tobacco control policies varies by demographic group, including nativity status (i.e., immigrant versus US born).

Methods. We analyzed 1995 to 2002 data from the Current Population Survey Tobacco Use Supplement (n = 543 951). The outcome was a summary attitudinal measure assessing support of smoking bans in 4 of 6 venues.

Results. US-born respondents, smokers, male respondents, Native Americans, Whites, and those who were unmarried, of lower socioeconomic status, and whose workplaces and homes were not smoke free were less likely to support smoking bans. Immigrants exhibited stronger support for banning smoking in every venue, with a generation-specific gradient in which support eroded with increasing assimilation to the United States. Levels of support were more than twice as high among immigrants as among US-born respondents (odds ratio [OR] = 2.16; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.08, 2.23). Naturalized citizens displayed higher support than US-born citizens, which may be relevant for mobilization of the electorate. Differences in population composition and contexts (e.g., smoke-free workplaces) only partially accounted for immigrants' stronger level of support.

Conclusions. Immigrants and their children may be valuable tobacco control allies given their supportive attitudes toward smoke-free policies.