Study: Raising Tobacco Age Lowers Chances Of Picking Habit

Source from:  Vaping Post 08/09/2019

The study titled, “Tobacco‐21 laws and young adult smoking: quasi‐experimental evidence,” was published in Addiction. The researchers compared the smoking rates of people aged 18, 20, 21 and 22, across U.S. communities where the legal age to smoke is 18, to areas where it has been raised to 21. The compiled data indicated that in areas where the age limit is 21, the 18 to 20 group was less likely to smoke.

The study pointed out that the chance of becoming a regular smoker drops by 39% for 18 to 20 year olds living in such areas, yet this figure drops by 50% when a 16-year-old has a close friend who smokes. “This research indicates that a ‘social multiplier’ effect may amplify the impact of tobacco-21 laws,” said lead study author Abigail Friedman, a researcher at Yale University.

“While these policies were associated with a 39% drop in the odds of regular smoking overall, the reduction was larger among young people whose friends were likely to smoke before tobacco-21 laws were adopted,” she added.

On the other hand said the researchers, the tobacco-21 laws did not really have an impact on the smoking behaviour of the 21- to 22-year-old group. “As peer smoking is a critical predictor of youth smoking, this study suggests that tobacco-21 laws may help reduce smoking among those most susceptible to tobacco use. This result supports raising the age of sale to 21 as a means to reduce young adult smoking and improve public health,” Friedman said.  Enditem