Differential Associations Between Anti-Tobacco Industry Attitudes and Intention to Quit Smoking Across Young Adult Peer Crowds

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the relationship between anti-tobacco industry attitudes and intention and attempts to quit smoking across 6 young adult peer crowds. Design: A cross-sectional bar survey in 2015. Setting: Seven US cities (Albuquerque, Los Angeles, Nashville, Oklahoma City, San Diego, San Francisco, and Tucson). Participants: Two thousand eight hundred seventeen young adult bar patrons who were currently smoking. Measures: Intention to quit in the next 6 months and having made a quit attempt in the last 12 months were binary outcomes. Anti-industry attitudes were measured by 3 items indicating support for action against the tobacco industry. Peer crowd affiliation was measured using the I-Base Survey. Analysis: Adjusted multivariable logistic regression models examined the association between anti-industry attitudes and the outcomes for the total sample and for each peer crowd. Results: Overall, anti-industry attitudes were positively associated with both intention to quit (odds ratio [OR] = 1.37, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.24-1.52) and attempt to quit (OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.03-1.27). Intriguingly, the relationship between anti-industry attitudes and intention to quit differed by peer crowd affiliation, with significant associations for Homebody, Partier, Hipster, and Hip Hop, but not for Young Professional and Country. Conclusions: Developing health communication messages that resonate with unique peer crowd values can enhance the relevance of public health campaigns. Tobacco control practitioners should tailor anti-industry messages to promote intention to quit smoking among the highest risk young adults.