The influence of tobacco merchant education and enforcement activities on the rate of tobacco use among youth in Louisiana

Abstract

The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) to determine whether a relationship exists between the self-reported tobacco use by secondary students in Louisiana and the tobacco sale rate to persons under the age of 18 in those parishes; and 2) to investigate the relationship between merchant education in a parish and the parish tobacco sale rate to persons under the age of 18 in those parishes. Multiple data sources were utilized to include tobacco use among secondary students, education provided to merchants, and tobacco sales to minors compliance checks. Aggregated parish data for each of the data sources were examined. The prevalence of tobacco use among secondary students was obtained from summary data from the 2002 Louisiana Communities that Care® Youth Survey and the 2004 Louisiana Caring Communities Youth Survey. Merchant education activities were obtained from summary reports provided by community contractors that provide merchants with educational materials related to the sale of tobacco products to minors. Finally, tobacco compliance check data were obtained from summary reports provided by the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control with the number of compliance checks conducted and the number of compliance checks resulting in a violation. Findings from the study indicated that: a) The self-reported level of tobacco use among secondary students has decreased; b) There is no relationship between parish youth tobacco use and the parish rate of merchant education; c) There was no relationship between the change in parish youth tobacco use and the parish rate of tobacco sales to minors; and d) A greater number of tobacco merchants in a parish tended to be associated with lower levels of tobacco use among secondary students. It is recommended that continued examination of youth tobacco use, merchant education, and youth access to tobacco be continued over time.