Adoption of electronic-cigarette-free, hookah-free and American College Health Association recommended tobacco-free policies among a national sample of postsecondary educational institutions

Abstract

Objective: To examine the prevalence of various types of tobacco-free policies among a US national sample of postsecondary educational institutions (PEIs). Participants: A national sample of US PEIs (N = 605) attended by the participants of the NEXT Generation Health Study. Methods: Tobacco policies of these PEIs were reviewed to determine if they were e-cigarette-free (yes/no), hookah-free (yes/no), and ACHA-recommended tobacco-free (yes/no) in June–December 2017. Logistic regression models were used to examine the relationships between institutional characteristics and tobacco policies. Results: Overall, 39.2, 26.0, and 20.0% of the sample adopted e-cigarette-free, hookah-free, and ACHA-recommended tobacco-free policies, respectively. Proprietary PEIs (vs. public) were less likely to have ACHA-recommended tobacco-free policies, while PEIs in the South and Midwest (vs. West) were more likely to have ACHA-recommended tobacco-free policies (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Most sampled PEIs did not have ACHA-recommended tobacco-free polices. Subsequent research needs to investigate how ACHA-recommended tobacco policies influence tobacco use.

Keywords:

• Policy
• tobacco-free
• young adult

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to thank Ms. Cynthia Hallet and the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation for providing tobacco-free policy information on some of the education institutions, and technical support for the coding tobacco-free policies.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States. This study was determined by the National Institutes of Health Office of Human Subject Research Protection as non-human subject research (analysis of publicly available records) and therefore exempted from review by the Institutional Review Board.

Additional information

Funding

Ms. Trad, Ms. Andrews, and Dr. Choi’s effort on this study was supported by the Division of Intramural Research, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. This research was also made possible through the NIH Medical Research Scholars Program, a public-private partnership supported jointly by the NIH and generous contributions to the Foundation for the NIH from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the American Association for Dental Research, the Colgate-Palmolive Company, Genentech, Elsevier, and other private donors. Ms. Saint-Fort’s effort was supported by the Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Patel’s effort was supported by the Cancer Prevention Fellowship program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute. The NEXT Generation Study was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration, with supplemental support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (Contract # HHSN275201200001I).