Adolescents turn to other avenues of getting cigarettes as more retail store owners and clerks are practicing age of sales law. Anecdotal evidence such as focus group and unscientific observation indicates teenagers shoulder-tap strangers to buy cigarettes for them. This behavior has become more prevalent and deserves attention and counter-strategies from advocates and researchers in youth smoking prevention. Based on a 2000/2001 survey administered to over 16,000 eighth, ninth and tenth grade students in 29 Minnesota cities, over 40 percent of the adolescents who reported smoking once or more in the last 30 days were able to get a stranger to buy cigarettes for them in the past month prior to the survey. The data also show over 60 percent of the shoulder-tapping buys were conducted at gas station/convenience store and about 50 percent of the teenagers paid just the cost of the cigarettes. The results from a multivariate analysis reveal that adolescents who smoked a pack more a week were 1.2 times more likely to get a stranger to buy cigarettes. Those adolescents whose best friend smoked had a 40% higher rate to get a stranger to buy cigarettes for them. Finally, teenagers were more successful in shoulder-tapping buy if they usually bought their own cigarettes. Clearly it is urgent that we develop tobacco control strategies to address this problem.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to: 1. Understand the nature of stranger shoulder-tapping buy among youth. 2. Identify the characteristics of the adolescents who were able to approach strangers successfully. 3. Describe community-based strategies to curtail shoulder-tapping buy.
Keywords: Tobacco Control, Adolescents
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.