Eateries' tobacco bans may influence teens

BOSTON - A Massachusetts study suggests that restaurant smoking bans may play a big role in persuading teens not to become smokers.

Youths who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than those in communities with no bans or weak ones, the researchers reported in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The findings back up the idea that smoking bans discourage tobacco use in teens by sending the message that smoking is frowned upon in the community, as well as simply by reducing exposure to smokers in public places, said Dr. Michael Siegel of the Boston University School of Public Health, the study's lead author.

"When kids grow up in an environment where they don't see smoking, they are going to think it's not socially acceptable," he said.

Siegel and his colleagues tracked 2,791 children between ages 12 and 17 who lived throughout Massachusetts. There were no statewide restrictions when the study began in 2001, but about 100 cities and towns had enacted a hodgepodge of laws restricting smoking in workplaces, bars or restaurants.

The teens were followed for four years to see how many eventually became smokers.

Overall, about 9 percent became smokers - defined as smoking more than 100 cigarettes.

In towns without bans or where smoking was restricted to a designated area, that rate was nearly 10 percent. But in places with tough bans prohibiting smoking in restaurants, just under 8 percent of the teens became smokers.

The study found that having a smoker as a parent or a close friend was a factor in predicting whether children experiment with cigarettes. But strong bans had a bigger influence on whether smoking grew into a habit, reducing their chances of becoming smokers by 40 percent.

"There is really no other smoking-intervention program that could cut almost in half the rate of smoking," Siegel said.

Age was also a factor. Smoking bans had a greater effect on younger teens.

A statewide workplace smoking ban that included restaurants went into effect in mid-2004. Since then, high school smoking rates in Massachusetts have continued to decline, from about 21 percent of students in 2005 to about 18 percent in 2007.