Baseline characteristics of Massachusetts youth cohort* by strength† of local restaurant smoking regulation
| Total | Weak† | Medium† | Strong† | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (%) | (%) | (%) | ||
| n = 2623 | n = 1584 | n = 605 | n = 434 | |
| *Cohort includes only youths who were not established smokers (that is, had smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their life) at baseline. | ||||
| †Strength of local restaurant smoking regulation was defined as strong if it banned smoking completely in all restaurants with no variances, medium if it banned smoking but allowed variances or restricted smoking to enclosed, separately ventilated areas, and weak if it required only designated smoking areas or did not restrict smoking at all. | ||||
| ‡Mean percentage shown in each column. | ||||
| Individual level variables | ||||
| Age at baseline (years) | ||||
| 12–14 | 1405 | 53.9 | 55.4 | 49.8 |
| 15–17 | 1218 | 46.1 | 44.6 | 50.2 |
| Sex | ||||
| Male | 1328 | 50.0 | 52.6 | 50.2 |
| Female | 1295 | 50.0 | 47.4 | 49.8 |
| Race/ethnicity | ||||
| Non-Hispanic white | 2126 | 77.8 | 87.2 | 87.7 |
| Other | 478 | 22.2 | 12.8 | 12.3 |
| Smoking status | ||||
| Non-susceptible non-smoker | 1581 | 61.7 | 60.0 | 55.3 |
| Susceptible non-smoker | 453 | 15.3 | 19.3 | 21.4 |
| Puffer | 308 | 12.5 | 11.4 | 9.5 |
| Experimenter | 200 | 7.1 | 7.1 | 10.1 |
| Current smoker | 81 | 3.3 | 2.2 | 3.7 |
| Peer smoking | ||||
| No close friend smokes | 1942 | 73.6 | 76.4 | 72.6 |
| At least one close friend smokes | 681 | 26.4 | 23.6 | 27.4 |
| Exposure to anti-smoking messages at school | ||||
| No | 775 | 30.2 | 31.0 | 27.9 |
| Yes | 1806 | 69.8 | 69.0 | 72.1 |
| Household level variables | ||||
| Household smoking | ||||
| No adult smoker in household | 1804 | 66.9 | 70.2 | 73.5 |
| Adult smoker in household | 819 | 33.1 | 29.8 | 26.5 |
| Education of adult informant | ||||
| Not college graduate | 1367 | 56.4 | 49.1 | 45.6 |
| College graduate | 1215 | 43.6 | 50.9 | 54.4 |
| Household income | ||||
| ⩽$50000 | 568 | 30.0 | 21.9 | 21.0 |
| >$50000 | 1565 | 70.0 | 78.1 | 79.0 |
| Town level variables | ||||
| Percentage of town residents who are college graduates‡ | 42.9 | 39.1 | 47.7 | 50.3 |
| Percentage of town “yes” vote on Question 1‡ | 51.2 | 49.2 | 53.2 | 55.6 |
| Percentage of town residents who are white‡ | 87.9 | 85.4 | 91.9 | 91.9 |
| Percentage of town residents who are youths‡ | 24.6 | 24.7 | 24.9 | 23.6 |
| Number of restaurants | ||||
| ⩾5 | 2280 | 83.4 | 94.2 | 89.6 |
| <5 | 343 | 16.6 | 5.8 | 10.4 |
| Population | ||||
| <20000 | 1034 | 38.1 | 44.5 | 37.3 |
| 20000–50000 | 934 | 29.3 | 42.0 | 49.8 |
| >50000 | 655 | 32.6 | 13.5 | 12.9 |