Title:
Tobacco use : Do Smokefree Air Policies, Political Factors, Health-Related Quality of Life Factors, and Socio-economic Status Matter?
Abstract:
The harmful effects of tobacco use and its associated secondhand smoke have attracted the attention of public health policy makers and legislators over the years. Attempts have been made to deal with the problem from different perspectives. Among the measures taken are the enactment of smoke free air policies by states, the use of tobacco tax, and numerous quitting programs among other measures. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of socio-economic status, smoke free air policies, health-related quality of life, and political factors in influencing tobacco use by state. Fifty states of the U.S. were the unit of analysis for this study. This study excludes the District of Columbia. The study is focused on adults aged 18 years and over. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (2004), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2004) were used in the scale creation Socio-economic status, smoke free air policies, and health-related quality of life scales were developed using factor analysis. Cronbach's alpha reliability assessment tests were conducted to establish internal consistency reliability. Political factor data were obtained from the World Almanac and Book of Facts (2004), and were not created into a scale. Multiple regression statistical technique was used to test the hypotheses of this study. The research results revealed that smoke free air policies, health-related quality of life, states with a Democratic govern and a Democratic-controlled legislature, states with a Democratic governor and Split legislature, and states with a Republican governor and Split legislature were not statistically significant. Implied in this is that these variables neither predicted a reduction nor an increase in tobacco use at the state level. However, socio-economic status, states with a Democratic governor and a Republican-controlled legislature, and states with a Republican governor and a Democratic-controlled legislature were statistically significant at the . 10 level. It became evident in the study that as socio-economic status increased, tobacco use declined. The statistical significance of states with a Democratic govern and a Republican-controlled legislature meant that such states experienced an increase in the use of tobacco. On the contrary, the statistical significance of states with a Republican governor and a Democratic-controlled legislature meant that these states had a reduction in the use of tobacco. Thus, bipartisan leadership at the state level with regard to control of the legislature and govemorship predicts a change in tobacco use. Findings from this study were compared with the literature. Also, the limitations of the study and policy implications were discussed. Recommendations were also made for future research. The study results were very informative. It is envisaged that future research looks further into the impact of smokefree air policies at the respective states as more states adopt smoke free air policies. Future research also needs to look into the association between tobacco use and political factors.
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