Department of Community Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E 0T6, Canada.
George & Fay Yee Centre for Healthcare Innovation, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Can J Public Health. 2019 Feb;110(1):93-102. doi: 10.17269/s41997-018-0123-9. Epub 2018 Aug 30.
To investigate the price and income elasticities of adolescent smoking initiation and intensity to determine the extent to which increased pocket money leads to greater smoking among youth, and whether higher taxes can mitigate this effect.
We used the 2012/2013 Canadian Youth Smoking Survey including students in grades 7-12. The multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the probability of smoking initiation, and a linear regression to examine the smoking intensity determined by province-level prices of cigarettes, pocket money, and a vector of individual characteristics, including age, sex, race, and school-related and psychosocial factors.
Of respondents, 28.8% have tried cigarette smoking. More than 90% of these initiated smoking between age 9 and 17. Male smokers consumed a higher average number of whole cigarettes daily than did females. The price elasticity of smoking initiation and intensity for youth in the full sample were - 1.13 and - 1.02, respectively, which means that a 10% increase in price leads to an 11.3% reduction in initiation and a 10.2% reduction in intensity. The income elasticity of smoking initiation and intensity for youth in the full sample were 0.07 and 0.06, respectively, which means that a 10% increase in income leads to a 0.7% increase in initiation and a 0.6% increase in intensity.
Economic measures such as taxation that raise the price of cigarettes may be a useful policy tool to limit smoking initiation and intensity.
研究青少年吸烟起始和强度的价格和收入弹性，以确定增加零花钱在多大程度上导致青少年吸烟增加，以及提高税收是否可以减轻这种影响。
我们使用了 2012/2013 年加拿大青少年吸烟调查的数据，包括 7-12 年级的学生。使用多变量逻辑回归来检验吸烟起始的概率，使用线性回归来检验吸烟强度，其由省级香烟价格、零花钱以及个人特征（包括年龄、性别、种族、学校相关和心理社会因素）的向量决定。
在受访者中，28.8%的人尝试过吸烟。其中超过 90%的人在 9 至 17 岁之间开始吸烟。男性吸烟者每天平均消费的整支香烟数量多于女性。全样本青少年的吸烟起始和强度的价格弹性分别为-1.13 和-1.02，这意味着价格上涨 10%会导致起始率下降 11.3%，强度下降 10.2%。全样本青少年的吸烟起始和强度的收入弹性分别为 0.07 和 0.06，这意味着收入增加 10%会导致起始率增加 0.7%，强度增加 0.6%。
提高香烟价格等经济措施可能是限制吸烟起始和强度的有效政策工具。
