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We propose to analyze representative population-level data to compare California’s progress relative to the rest of the US in reducing racial/ethnic disparities in cigarette smoking initiation, consumption level (non-daily smoking, light daily smoking, heavy daily smoking), and cessation (quit attempts relapse, successful cessation). We also aim to expand quasi-experimental methods to allow for the assessment of the distribution of inequalities in cigarette smoking initiation, consumption and cessation across race/ethnic groups, as impacted by smoke-free laws and increased cigarette taxes. Capitalizing on a natural experiment, we will compare California, a state with a large, diverse population that implemented such policies in the 1990s, with a synthetic control group of US states that did not implement such policies to understand changes across race/ethnic groups attributable to such policies. We will then quantify the extent to which these policies affected predictors of cigarette smoking initiation, consumption and cessation across race/ethnic groups in California compared to a synthetic control group of US states. Finally, we will examine other-tobacco-product (OTP) use, including cigars/cigarillos, electronic cigarettes and hookah, and its effect on the cigarette smoking continuum across priority population groups. Specifically, we will examine whether California’s various population groups are using OTPs differently than the rest of the US and, if so, how cigarette smoking disparities are affected.
We refer to California’s racial/ethnic priority populations as including the following groups: African Americans/Blacks, American Indians, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders and Hispanics/Latinos. Within these priority populations will consider age, gender and socioeconomic disparities between and within groups, as well as nationality-subgroup differences within Asian Americans (e.g., Chinese, Filipino) and Hispanics/Latinos (e.g., Mexican, Puerto Rican). Results from this project can lead to improved prevention, control and intervention efforts to reduce tobacco-related health disparities in California. |
