Sectors of the Russian economy that would benefit from reduced cigarette sales.

BACKGROUND: Cigarette companies argue that tobacco control measures will harm the Russian economy. Research in other countries has refuted this claim. OBJECTIVE: To identify how current and former smokers would (or did) spend their cigarette money if (or when) they quit smoking. METHODS: A nationwide face-to-face survey of 1599 participants aged 18 years and older in 128 cities was conducted in Russia during May 2008 by the Russian Levada Analytical Center. RESULTS: In all, 10% of respondents were former smokers and 33% were current smokers. Respondents indicated that they would spend their cigarette money on selected items if they quit. These items, from most to least common are groceries, recreation, housing, clothing, transportation, healthcare and savings. The ways that cigarette money would be spent in the absence of smoking significantly differed according to smoking status, gender, age, education, income, rural versus urban residency and geographic region. CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco control may benefit the Russian economy by producing healthier workers and because the money that would have been used for cigarettes would be shifted primarily to groceries, recreation, housing and clothing.

The relationship of perceived age and sales of tobacco and alcohol to underage customers.

The ability of store clerks to estimate the age of their customers is critical in preventing illegal sales of tobacco and alcohol to underage individuals. To avoid illegal sales of tobacco products to minors, the Food and Drug Administration created a policy in 1997 requiring store clerks to request identification of anyone perceived to be underage 27. A similar age standard has not been implemented for alcohol. The purpose of this article is to assess whether age 27 is adequate for minimizing tobacco sales to those under age 18 and whether this age is also a useful standard for minimizing illegal alcohol sales to those under age 21. The analysis is based on age estimates from 49 gas station and convenience store clerks. Each clerk estimated ages of 45 people filmed on video whose actual ages ranged from 15 to 29. T-tests, analysis of variance, contingency tables and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. Store clerks found it more difficult to estimate ages of female customers than male customers. In addition, the store clerks significantly underestimated age of male customers under 18 and of female customers under 21. In contrast, the clerks significantly overestimated age of customers 21 years and older. Among underage customers, the store clerks' age, gender, work experience, education, and training in requesting identification had no influence on ability to judge age, nor did it have a strong influence on whether an underage customer was considered 18 or older or 21 or older. The results suggest that age 27 is adequate for minimizing illegal tobacco sales. Adoption of a similar or slightly older age may be appropriate for minimizing illegal alcohol sales.

An examination of common coping strategies used to combat driver fatigue.

Driver fatigue is recognized as an important highway safety risk. Many organizations have published recommendations for coping with driver fatigue. The authors explored the effectiveness of 10 common coping strategies, using a case-controlled design to examine the use of coping strategies among a random sample of college students (N = 301). The students were questioned about their use of coping strategies for driver fatigue and their record of having experienced a dozing-related incident. Odds ratios were calculated and 4 strategies--taking a walk, drinking caffeinated beverages, stopping for a nap, and chewing ice--were found to predict an incident. Three other strategies, snacking, rolling the window down, and talking with a passenger, were found to be protective.

Psychosocial and pharmacologic explanations of nicotine's "gateway drug" function.

Research has shown that adolescent users of tobacco are much more likely to progress to use of illicit drugs than are nonusers of tobacco. This article suggests potential psychosocial reasons for the progression based on principles of learning theory, Theory of Reasoned Action, Health Belief Model, and Cognitive Dissonance. In addition, a neuropharmacologic causal mechanism is discussed. The existence of tobacco's gateway function has important implications in the nation's efforts to reduce illicit drug use and adolescent smoking.