Towns enacting bans see decline in teen smoking
By Shari Roan
Regulations banning smoking in restaurants appear to have an unintended bonus: They deter kids from becoming smokers.
A study published last week in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine found teens in towns with smoking bans were 40 percent less likely to become smokers compared with their peers in areas with weak restrictions.
The study followed 3,834 Massachusetts youths, ages 12-17, for up to four years. In towns where smoking wasn't restricted or partially restricted, 9.6 percent and 9.8 percent of the youths, respectively, became smokers over the study period. In towns where smoking was banned in restaurants, 7.9 percent became smokers.
"Regulations are sending a message smoking in public places is no longer socially acceptable," says Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at Boston University School of Public Health.
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