The Effect of the Tobacco Control Act on Smoker's Intention to Quit Smoking

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This research will examine the potential unintended consequences of the recently enacted Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act on adult smokers' and intention to quit. Using newly-inserted items in the 3rd wave of a longitudinal cohort survey of adult smokers (N=4000; 800 African American, 700 Hispanic), the purpose of this research proposal is to test the hypothesis that awareness of FDA legislation is linked to belief that government regulation of cigarettes will create a safer cigarette, thus decreasing smokers' intention to quit (primary outcome), motivation to quit (secondary outcome) and number of 24-hour quit attempts (secondary outcome). It will also examine the potential mediating/moderating effects of psychosocial characteristics on the relationship between "awareness" and "belief" and between "belief" and intention to quit using multiple logistic regression and path analysis. This research will give policymakers and tobacco control researchers a first look as to how smokers interpret government regulation of tobacco products, and may inform the implementation other aspects of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The proposed training program will support the applicant in the completion of her doctoral studies at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, focusing on the effects of policy and consumer perception on smoking behavior. Over the course of two years, Ms. Pearson will complete methods courses in survey development and advanced statistical methods, develop manuscripts with her sponsor and co-sponsor, and complete the proposed research, with the goal of becoming an independent tobacco control researcher.