About the Project
Rationale: While tobacco use causes disease and preventable death in all segments of the population, certain racial and ethnic minorities bear a disproportionate share of the overall health burden. A recent Surgeon General’s report entitled “Reducing Tobacco Use” identifies the elimination of tobacco- related disparities among racial and ethnic minority groups as a major goal in the campaign to reduce the health and economic burden of tobacco use (http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/tobacco_use). To reach this goal, additional research examining the effectiveness of alternative tobacco control policies on patterns of smoking among members of racial and ethnic minority groups is needed. While numerous econometric studies have examined the determinants of smoking for the general U.S. population, very few have looked at the impact of state tobacco policies on smoking among racial and ethnic groups.
Purpose: The purpose of this project is to examine the impact of state-level tobacco control policies on smoking propensity and intensity among individuals of racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. Specifically, this project quantifies the differential effect of cigarette prices and cigarette excise taxes, smoke-free air laws, and youth access laws on cigarette smoking among African Americans, American Indians & Alaskan Natives (Aleuts and Eskimos combined), Asians and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics employing multiple waves of the Tobacco Use Supplements to the Current Population Surveys (TUS CPS).
Impact: Findings from this project will be used to better understand the impact of state-level tobacco control policies on smoking propensity and intensity among individuals of racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States and help inform the development and implementation of tobacco control initiatives that will achieve the goal of reducing tobacco-related health disparities. TReND’s investigators will disseminate the study findings through peer-reviewed journal publications and presentations at major professional conferences.
Research Team
John A. Tauras, PhD (Principal Investigator)
University of Illinois at Chicago
Pebbles Fagan, PhD, MPH
National Cancer Institute
Dennis R. Trinidad, PhD, MPH
Claremont Graduate University
Contact Us
Principal Investigator:
John A. Tauras, PhD
Associate Professor of Economics
University of Illinois at Chicago
tauras@uic.edu
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