Jason L A, Berk M, Schnopp-Wyatt D L, Talbot B
Department of Psychology, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois 60614, USA.
Am J Community Psychol. 1999 Apr;27(2):143-60. doi: 10.1023/A:1022831617055.
Smoking is the primary preventable cause of death, and yet 3,000 adolescents become smokers each day. Most adult smokers begin this deadly habit when they are under the age of 18, which is the minimum legal age for the purchase of cigarettes. The majority of adolescent smokers are able to purchase cigarettes even though laws prohibit the sale of cigarettes to minors. In the late 1980s, Woodridge, IL, became one of the first towns in the nation to demonstrate a significant reduction in the ability of youth to purchase cigarettes. Almost 2 years after passage of this legislation, the percentage of regular smokers among 7th- and 8th-grade students had been reduced from 16 to 5%. Seven-year follow-up data in a sample of high school youths indicate that youths living in communities with regular enforcement had significantly less smoking than those living in communities without regular enforcement. In particular, rates of regular smoking were 8.1% in communities with regular enforcement versus 15.5% in communities without regular enforcement. It is possible that adolescents who had restricted access to tobacco products were less likely to become regular smokers. These findings have important public health implications, particularly in light of recent federal legislation mandating that all states develop programs to reduce access of youth to tobacco products.
吸烟是主要的可预防死因，然而每天仍有3000名青少年开始吸烟。大多数成年吸烟者在18岁以下就养成了这种致命习惯，而18岁是购买香烟的法定最低年龄。尽管法律禁止向未成年人出售香烟，但大多数青少年吸烟者仍能买到香烟。20世纪80年代末，伊利诺伊州的伍德里奇成为美国首批显著降低青少年购买香烟能力的城镇之一。这项立法通过近2年后，七年级和八年级学生中经常吸烟的比例从16%降至5%。对一组高中青年的七年随访数据表明，生活在有定期执法社区的青年吸烟率明显低于生活在没有定期执法社区的青年。特别是，有定期执法的社区中经常吸烟的比例为8.1%，而没有定期执法的社区为15.5%。那些获取烟草制品受限的青少年不太可能成为经常吸烟者。这些发现具有重要的公共卫生意义，尤其是鉴于最近的联邦立法要求所有州制定计划以减少青少年获取烟草制品的机会。
