Table 1

Smoking status and demographic predictors of support for phasing out the retail sale of cigarettes in Australia and perceptions of an appropriate timeframe for such a phase-out

nThink it would be a good thing if there came a time when it was no longer legal to sell cigarettes in shops in AustraliaSupport (strongly or somewhat) a phase-out policy whereby cigarettes are removed from the market over a set period so that eventually adult smokers can only buy cigarettes online from overseas companiesThink it is appropriate for a phase-out to happen within 5 years
Adj %AOR (95% CI)Adj %AOR (95% CI)Adj %AOR (95% CI)
Overall187461.650.738.5
Smoking status*
 Current28239.2132.9129.11
 Former54162.3 2.57 (1.67 to 3.98) 51.1 2.14 (1.37 to 3.34) 39.11.57 (0.97 to 2.54)
 Never105267.2 3.18 (2.11 to 4.80) 55.3 2.54 (1.68 to 3.85) 40.6 1.67 (1.07 to 2.61)
Gender
 Male92561.5150.2137.61
 Female95061.71.01 (0.77 to 1.32)51.31.05 (0.81 to 1.36)39.31.08 (0.82 to 1.41)
Age
 18–3454363.3147.9132.61
 35–5463462.50.97 (0.66 to 1.43)51.71.17 (0.80 to 1.71)40.51.41 (0.94 to 2.11)
 55+69859.40.84 (0.58 to 1.22)52.01.18 (0.82 to 1.69)41.21.45 (0.99 to 2.14)
Highest level of education
 No tertiary education64361.8151.6139.81
 Some tertiary education123261.50.99 (0.74 to 1.31)50.30.95 (0.72 to 1.26)37.80.92 (0.69 to 1.22)
Region
 Metropolitan124060.7149.8138.21
 Rest of the state63463.31.12 (0.83 to 1.52)52.51.12 (0.83 to 1.50)38.91.03 (0.76 to 1.41)
Socioeconomic status (SES)†
 Low-mid SES100859.9148.3139.11
 High SES86663.51.17 (0.88 to 1.56)53.51.24 (0.93 to 1.64)37.70.94 (0.70 to 1.27)
  • All n’s are weighted and may not sum to the total due to rounding. The analytical sample was limited to those respondents who did not have missing data on any of the smoking status or demographic predictor variables, n=1874. Data were missing for n=5 respondents for smoking status (refused to respond or ‘don’t know’), n=6 respondents for gender (‘other’), 4 respondents for age (undetermined), 40 respondents for highest level of educational attainment (not determined), n=6 respondents for region (could not be established) and 11 respondents for socioeconomic status (could not be established). However, due to some overlap in which cases had missing data across these demographic variables, a total of n=65 cases were excluded from multivariable models. Bold ORs and 95% CIs were significant at p<0.05.

  • *Current smokers were defined as those who smoked on a daily, weekly or less often than weekly basis. Former smokers did not currently smoke but had smoked at least 100 cigarettes or a similar amount of tobacco over their lifetime. Never smokers did not currently smoke and had not smoked at least 100 cigarettes over their lifetime.

  • †SES was determined using the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) disadvantage scale. SEIFA quintiles 1, 2 and 3 were combined for the low-mid SES category and SEIFA quintiles 4 and 5 were combined for the high SES category.

  • Adj %, predicted probability of agreement, adjusted for smoking status, gender, age, highest level of education, region and socioeconomic status; AOR, adjusted OR, adjusted for smoking status, gender, age, highest level of education, region and socioeconomic status.