Youth tobacco access: trends and policy implications

Abstract

ObjectiveWe examined whether the supply routes via which New Zealand adolescents aged 14–15 years accessed tobacco had changed during a period of dynamic policy activity.SettingWe analysed data from seven consecutive years (2006–2012) of the New Zealand Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Year 10 survey, a nationwide cross-sectional annual survey.ParticipantsAll New Zealand schools teaching Year 10 students are invited to participate in the survey; school-level participation rates have ranged between 44% and 58% and more than 25 000 students have responded to the survey in each year. The results presented draw on the subsample who reported smoking when surveyed (N∼9200). The data were weighted by age, ethnicity and school socioeconomic status (SES) to remove effects of systematic over-response by New Zealand Europeans and under-response by those in lower SES groups from trend analyses.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe survey measured adolescents’ main reported tobacco supply source.ResultsSmoking prevalence declined significantly (8.1%) over the period examined (linear tend coefficient: −0.74; 95% CI −1.03 to −0.45, significant p<0.01). Friends showed a significant decline in relative importance as a supply source while caregivers and other sources showed a significant increase over the period examined.ConclusionsThe findings show that social supply, particularly via friends, caregivers and others, such as older siblings, is a key tobacco source for adolescents; commercial supply is much less important. The findings raise questions about the additional measures needed to reduce smoking among youth. Endgame policies that make tobacco more difficult to obtain and less appealing and convenient to gift merit further investigation.

Disadvantaged youth and smoking in mature tobacco control contexts: a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research

“…However, there are encouraging signs that regulatory measures and changing social norms may be able to reduce this access. A recent New Zealand study showed that friends are becoming less important as a source for cigarettes,70 indicating that both general reductions in prevalence and targeted interventions informed by qualitative research are likely to be effective.…”

Impact of removing point-of-sale tobacco displays: data from a New Zealand youth survey

“…For analysis, as in previous studies,22 23 we combined categories 1 and 2 (commercial source), 3 and 4 (friend source), 5 and 6 (parental source), and 7 and 8 (other source). We focused on the commercial source of supply, since the POS display ban potentially most directly affected this supply route.…”

Realistically furthering the goals of public health by cannabis legalization with strict regulation: Response to Kalant

“…ways for cannabis procurement. Based on experiences with alcohol and tobacco or even prescription (e.g., opioid) pharmaceuticals used nonmedically, it can be expected that these indirect ways will likely remain the main ways of Page 14 of 27 A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 14 procurement (Gendall, Hoek, Marsh, Edwards, & Healey, 2014;Ogilvie, Gruer, & Haw, 2005;Schepis & Krishnan-Sarin, 2009). While this is not ideal from the perspective of public health-oriented policy including the best possible protection of young people's well-being and safety, it is more desirable than predominant or inevitable black market engagement, which is the current status quo, and which may actively facilitate exposure to other illicit drugs or drugs which are less likely to be quality-controlled.…”