Association between smokefree laws and voluntary smokefree-home rules

Background: More states and localities are passing restrictions on smoking in public places and workplaces.

Purpose: To determine what, if any, association exists between enactment of strong laws making public places or workplaces smokefree on adoption of voluntary smokefree-home policies, particularly whether such laws are associated with increased smoking at home.

Methods: Logistic regressions were used to estimate the OR of a person living with a 100% smokefree-home rule as a function of individual characteristics, household composition, and whether or not the residential region is covered by clean indoor air laws. The data came from successive waves of the Tobacco Use Supplement to Current Population Survey (TUS-CPS) for the years 1992-2007, and the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation database of state and local government clean indoor air laws. Analysis was conducted in 2010 and 2011.

Results: Living in a county fully covered by a 100% clean indoor air law in workplaces or restaurants or bars is associated with an increased likelihood of having a voluntary 100% smokefree-home rule both for people living with smokers (OR=7.76, 95% CI=5.27, 11.43) and not living with smokers (OR=4.12, 95% CI=3.28, 5.16).

Conclusions: Strong clean indoor air laws are associated with large increases in voluntary smokefree-home policies both in the homes with and without smokers. These results support the hypothesis of norm spreading of clean indoor air laws.