Rural Licensed Tobacco Merchants’ Smoking Status and the Sale of Tobacco to Youth

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the sale of tobacco to youth between smoking and nonsmoking merchants in a rural county. Licensed tobacco merchants were mailed surveys regarding their personal smoking status, and the returned surveys (75.9 %, N=44) were matched with tobacco compliance results which indicated if the business sold tobacco to youth during a county compliance check. Merchants who smoked tended to sell tobacco products to youth more often than those who did not smoke chi-square (2, n=41) 6.66, p=0.036. This finding suggests the need to focus on smoking status of merchants as a prevention strategy for youth tobacco use.