Public objections to environmental tobacco smoke

Abstract

Methods. A randomly selected sample of Californian adults was surveyed by telephone to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors with respect to tobacco use and its control. The questions asked of this sample were whether they had recently (in the past 12 months) asked someone not to smoke in certain situations and whether they would ever consider doing such a thing. Results. Results of the survey indicated that 59.1% of nonsmokers and 44.4% of smokers had asserted themselves within the past 12 months, while another 28.2 and 29.1% of the nonsmokers and smokers, respectively, indicated that they would consider asking someone not to smoke. Only 12.7% of the nonsmokers and 26.4% of the smokers indicated that they would not consider doing such a thing. Those more likely to object publicly to tobacco smoke are generally younger, are more educated, and have anti-tobacco attitudes related to either a specific health belief or social influence.