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Cigarette taxes reduce smoking among youngest adolescents
Cigarette taxes were most effective at deterring the youngest adolescents from smoking because they are the most price-sensitive adolescent age group, according to recent research in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
“Although state tobacco control policies have strengthened considerably over the past decade, only a few studies have examined their effects on adolescent smoking behaviors,” Summer Sherburne Hawkins, PhD, of the School of Social Work at Boston College, and colleagues wrote. “This study found that cigarette tax increases were associated with reduced current smoking and smoking frequency for the youngest adolescents whereas the enactment of smoke-free legislation reduced smoking rates overall.”
The researchers analyzed data from the CDC’s 1999 to 2013 Youth Risk Behavior surveys for 717,543 adolescents aged 14 to 18 years from 43 states. Difference-in-difference regression models were used to analyze the effect of tobacco taxes and control policies on adolescent smoking and smoking frequency. The researchers compared age associations separately against taxes and smoke-free legislation.
The prevalence of overall adolescent smoking decreased from 35.3% in 1999 to 13.9% in 2013, while during this period, 41 of the 43 states increased cigarette taxes by an average of 257%.
Hawkins and colleagues found that cigarette taxes had no overall effect on adolescent participation in smoking, yet they observed a significant decline based on age. The youngest cohort members, aged 14 and 15 years, were associated with 2.2 and 1.6 percentage point reductions in smoking for every $1 increase in cigarette tax, respectively.
The researchers also found that legislation that eliminated smoking in restaurants resulted in an overall smoking decrease of 1.1% for all adolescent ages studied.
“Smoke-free legislation may also be an effective strategy to reduce smoking among all adolescents,” Hawkins and colleagues wrote. “If tobacco control policies continue to strengthen as we saw over the past decade, we will likely make steady progress toward our national goals” – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
