No smoking. Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:No_Smoking.svg
A November 2013 study suggests that smoking bans succeed in causing smokers to quit smoking. The study, entitled “Smoking ban policies and their influence on smoking behaviors among current California smoker: A population-based study,” investigated the habits of smokers from California in relation to perceived and actual smoking bans.
The types of bans investigated were total and partial home bans, complete/partial city bans, and indoor workplace bans. Smoking bans have been implemented across the country and California has one of the most restrictive smoking laws in the nation; the state has almost completely banned smoking in working places and indoor public spaces. The study’s hypothesis was that “smoking bans, perceived or actual, are related to higher quit attempt rates and reduced cigarette consumption in a representative sample of California smokers.”
To investigate this hypothesis, the researchers used data from the 2011 California Longitudinal Smokers Survey (CLSS) to determine the percentage of smokers experiencing a particular ban, and the percentage of smokers quitting under a particular ban. The smokers in the survey were given a questionnaire of the presence of smoking bans in their lives and their smoking behaviors. It was found that, in California, 68.9% of smokers were experiencing a total home ban, 16.5% a partial home ban, and 14.5% no home ban.
Of those smokers who lived in a total smoke-free home, 46.7% quit smoking for more than one day in the past year. It was also found that smoking bans result in a greater number of quit attempts among smokers and reduced cigarette usage; however, partial home-bans seem to be relatively ineffective.
Some implications of this research are that total bans, rather than partial bans, should be implemented if the intended goal is to reduce the rate of smoking, and that implementing smoking bans in general will produce positive results in this direction. Additionally, smoking bans have positive externalities of reducing second-hand-smoke and increasing attempts to stop smoking among smokers overall. The study’s findings were consistent with previous ones on effects of smoking bans. The evidence provided for the positive impact of smoking bans on smoking behavior emphasizes the importance and effectiveness of such bans.
References
1. R.W. Zablocki, et al., Preventive Medicine. 59, 73-38 (2014).