OBJECTIVES To assess the risk of becoming a smoker in adulthood associated with parental smoking as well as the smoking of siblings and close friends. DESIGN A cross-sectional study. SETTING 4 oral healthcare centres in Finland and a follow-up. PARTICIPANTS An age cohort born in 1979 (n=2586) and living in four Finnish towns. Of those reached by the 2008 follow-up, 46.9% (n=1020) responde...

Smoking cessation interventions have posed significant challenges for health professionals, particularly when directed at high risk, low income, pregnant smokers. Typical quit rates for pregnant women who receive publicly financed obstetrical care have rarely exceeded 12–16%. As many as 70% of women who quit smoking during pregnancy relapse within one year of delivery. Two areas that have recei...

BACKGROUND At this time, the mechanisms by which socioeconomic differences in smoking develop are not completely understood. In this paper the Theory of Planned Behaviour as a potential explanatory framework for socioeconomic differences in smoking is tested. It was hypothesized that components of the Theory of Planned Behaviour may be unequally distributed over educational groups and therefore...

The past year has witnessed contentious debates about public health in England around smoking bans, alcohol licencing, food labelling and junk food advertising. Some people argue that any government intervention in these areas is 'nanny statist'--an unnecessary intrusion into people's lives and what they do, eat and drink. Others argue that only the state can alter the environment that shapes p...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effectiveness of interventions to reduce underage access to tobacco by deterring shopkeepers from making illegal sales. METHOD Systematic literature review. DATA SOURCES The Cochrane Tobacco Addiction group specialised register and Medline. Studies of interventions to alter retailer behaviour were identified. The terms used for searching combined terms for smoking an...

Aims: To study tobacco advertising in the United Kingdom between 1950-2003 and to evaluate the role of the cigarette box in advertising. Method: Tobacco company advertisements (n=204) were coded for content and meanings used to promote the product. Results: There was a significant shift over time from cigarettes being displayed to the cigarette box only. Changes in advertising and the meanings ...

OBJECTIVES Studies investigating whether smoking increases or decreases during economic downturn provided contrasting results. For the first time, we used direct questions to analyse changes in smoking behaviour due to the 2008 financial crisis, comparing socio-economic characteristics of smokers who changed with those who kept their smoking intensity. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. M...

Warning labels on cigarette packages rely on the negative health aspects of smoking. For smokers, however, smoking is related to positive as well as to negative outcomes. Positive smoking outcomes are shown to be crucial in activating smoking behaviour. Thus, this study compared current health warnings with warning labels contradicting positive outcomes. In a field study, 38 adult smokers were ...

Introduction Hong Kong has implemented the Smokefree legislation since January 2007 and smoking is prohibited in vast public and covered areas thereafter. The Smoke free legislation aims to protect people from exposing to SHS and motivating smokers to quit. This study explored the effect of the legislation on the smoking behaviour and their attitudes of quitting among fathers of newborn babies....

EDITORIAL HEALTH AND BEHAVIOUR Human behaviour is an important variable affecting human health Though it was a neglected area till late, recently growing interest of scientists in the biobehavioural science has given immense impetus to this discipline. Increasing industrialisation, changing social norms, changes in cultural values have created a major burden over the human behavioural adaptive ...