PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ce Shang
AU  - Frank J Chaloupka
AU  - Geoffrey T Fong
AU  - Mary Thompson
AU  - Mohammad Siahpush
AU  - William Ridgeway
TI  - Weight control belief and its impact on the effectiveness of tobacco control policies on quit attempts: findings from the ITC 4 Country Survey
AID  - 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2014-051886
DP  - 2015 Jul 01
TA  - Tobacco Control
PG  - iii41--iii47
VI  - 24
IP  - Suppl 3
4099  - http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/24/Suppl_3/iii41.short
4100  - http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/24/Suppl_3/iii41.full
SO  - Tob Control2015 Jul 01; 24
AB  - Background Weight concerns are widely documented as one of the major barriers for girls and young adult women to quit smoking. Therefore, it is important to investigate whether smokers who have weight concerns respond to tobacco control policies differently than smokers who do not in terms of quit attempts, and how this difference varies by gender and country.Objective This study aims to investigate, by gender and country, whether smokers who believe that smoking helps control weight are less responsive to tobacco control policies with regards to quit attempts than those who do not.Methods We use longitudinal data from the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia to conduct the analysis. We first constructed a dichotomous indicator for smokers who have the weight control belief and then examined the disparity in policy responsiveness in terms of quit attempts by directly estimating the interaction terms of policies and the weight control belief indicator using generalised estimating equations.Findings We find that weight control belief significantly attenuates the policy impact of tobacco control measures on quit attempts among US female smokers and among UK smokers. This pattern was not found among smokers in Canada and Australia.Conclusions Although our results vary by gender and country, the findings suggest that weight concerns do alter policy responsiveness in quit attempts in certain populations. Policy makers should take this into account and alleviate weight concerns to enhance the effectiveness of existing tobacco control policies on promoting quitting smoking.