Tobacco Outlet Density and Attitudes Towards Smoking Among Urban Adolescent Smokers

Background: This study investigates whether residential exposure to tobacco outlets (i.e., convenience stores and other stores selling tobacco) is associated with attitudes towards smoking among a sample of urban, primarily African American, adolescent smokers.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey data for 197 adolescents were integrated with spatial data on tobacco outlets via subject home addresses. Ordinal regression was employed to test hypotheses that closer proximity to, and higher concentrations of, tobacco outlets are associated with higher measures of intention to continue to smoke in the future, weaker self-efficacy related to stopping smoking, and more accepting social norms related to smoking, while controlling for characteristics of age, gender, family and peer smoking contexts, and level of nicotine dependence. Moderation by age and gender was also investigated.

Results: Higher residential tobacco outlet density is significantly associated with a greater intention to smoke in the next 3 months, a lower readiness to stop smoking, and a greater likelihood of accepting a cigarette from a friend. Residential proximity to a tobacco outlet is significantly associated with a greater intention to smoke 5 years on. Evidence of a relationship between exposure to tobacco outlets and social norms related to smoking was not found, nor was there evidence for moderation of these relationships by age or gender.

Conclusions: These results suggest that among urban adolescents who currently smoke, higher residential exposure to tobacco outlets is associated with greater predisposition towards future smoking and lower self-evaluation of the ability to stop smoking.