Skip to main content
PMC home page
Tobacco Control logoLink to Tobacco Control
. 2002 Dec;11(4):296–299. doi: 10.1136/tc.11.4.296

The ID effect on youth access to cigarettes

A Levinson 1, S Hendershott 1, T Byers 1
PMCID: PMC1747672  PMID: 12432154

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the effect on cigarette sales rates when minors present identification (ID).

Design: Controlled experiment in which minors attempting to purchase cigarettes either carried a valid photo ID (documenting they were minors) or carried no ID, and were instructed to show the ID or admit having no ID if the clerk requested proof of age.

Setting: Census of retail stores in six urban and suburban Colorado counties.

Subjects: Retail cigarette clerks, uninformed of the study.

Main outcome measures: Relative risk (RR) of cigarette sale to a minor when ID was requested and presented versus requested but not presented.

Results: When clerks requested ID, sales were more than six times as frequent if minors presented ID than if they did not (12.2% v 2.0%, RR 6.2, p < 0.0001). The relative risk remained substantially unchanged under adjustment for demographic and circumstantial covariates.

Conclusions: Presentation of photo ID in compliance checks increases illegal cigarette sales to minors. The impact may vary among states or locales and depends strongly on how often clerks request proof of age. Clerk training and responsible cigarette sales practices should include age calculations from photo ID. Programmes relying on investigative purchase attempts to estimate actual rates of cigarette sales to minors should ascertain and replicate local ID presenting behaviours that minors typically use during genuine attempts to buy cigarettes.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (104.1 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Arday D. R., Klevens R. M., Nelson D. E., Huang P., Giovino G. A., Mowery P. Predictors of tobacco sales to minors. Prev Med. 1997 Jan-Feb;26(1):8–13. doi: 10.1006/pmed.1996.9984. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bagott M., Jordan C., Wright C., Jarvis S. How easy is it for young people to obtain cigarettes, and do test sales by trading standards have any effect? A survey of two schools in Gateshead. Child Care Health Dev. 1998 May;24(3):207–216. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2214.1998.00066.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bekker P., Howell M., Nkuchia J., Yach D., Hobbs D., Maapola R., Masetle J. R., Morodi T., Naidoo D. K., von Schirnding Y. E. Sales of cigarettes to minors in the greater Johannesburg metropolitan area. S Afr Med J. 1996 Aug;86(8):980–980. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chapman S., King M., Andrews B., McKay E., Markham P., Woodward S. Effects of publicity and a warning letter on illegal cigarette sales to minors. Aust J Public Health. 1994 Mar;18(1):39–42. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-6405.1994.tb00192.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Clark P. I., Natanblut S. L., Schmitt C. L., Wolters C., Iachan R. Factors associated with tobacco sales to minors: lessons learned from the FDA compliance checks. JAMA. 2000 Aug 9;284(6):729–734. doi: 10.1001/jama.284.6.729. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cummings K. M. Community-wide interventions for tobacco control. Nicotine Tob Res. 1999;1 (Suppl 1):S113–S116. doi: 10.1080/14622299050011701. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. DiFranza J. R., Celebucki C. C., Mowery P. D. Measuring statewide merchant compliance with tobacco minimum age laws: the Massachusetts experience. Am J Public Health. 2001 Jul;91(7):1124–1125. doi: 10.2105/ajph.91.7.1124. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. DiFranza J. R., Coleman M. Sources of tobacco for youths in communities with strong enforcement of youth access laws. Tob Control. 2001 Dec;10(4):323–328. doi: 10.1136/tc.10.4.323. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. DiFranza J. R., Norwood B. D., Garner D. W., Tye J. B. Legislative efforts to protect children from tobacco. JAMA. 1987 Jun 26;257(24):3387–3389. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. DiFranza J. R., Savageau J. A., Bouchard J. Is the standard compliance check protocol a valid measure of the accessibility of tobacco to underage smokers? Tob Control. 2001 Sep;10(3):227–232. doi: 10.1136/tc.10.3.227. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Doorley P., Hynes M. Illegal sales of cigarettes to children in north-east Dublin. Ir Med J. 1995 Jul-Aug;88(4):130–131. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Dovell R. A., Mowat D. L., Dorland J., Lam M. Changes among retailers selling cigarettes to minors. Can J Public Health. 1996 Jan-Feb;87(1):66–68. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Forster J. L., Wolfson M. Youth access to tobacco: policies and politics. Annu Rev Public Health. 1998;19:203–235. doi: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.19.1.203. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Klonoff E. A., Landrine H., Alcaraz R. An experimental analysis of sociocultural variables in sales of cigarettes to minors. Am J Public Health. 1997 May;87(5):823–826. doi: 10.2105/ajph.87.5.823. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Landrine H., Klonoff E. A., Alcaraz R. Asking age and identification may decrease minors' access to tobacco. Prev Med. 1996 May-Jun;25(3):301–306. doi: 10.1006/pmed.1996.0060. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Landrine H., Klonoff E. A., Campbell R., Reina-Patton A. Sociocultural variables in youth access to tobacco: replication 5 years later. Prev Med. 2000 May;30(5):433–437. doi: 10.1006/pmed.2000.0652. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Landrine H., Klonoff E. A., Lang D., Alcaraz R. Use of identification cards by underage youth to purchase tobacco. JAMA. 2001 May 9;285(18):2329–2329. doi: 10.1001/jama.285.18.2329. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Levy D. T., Chaloupka F., Slater S. Expert opinions on optimal enforcement of minimum purchase age laws for tobacco. J Public Health Manag Pract. 2000 May;6(3):107–114. doi: 10.1097/00124784-200006030-00015. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Levy D. T., Friend K., Holder H., Carmona M. Effect of policies directed at youth access to smoking: results from the SimSmoke computer simulation model. Tob Control. 2001 Jun;10(2):108–116. doi: 10.1136/tc.10.2.108. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Minowa M., Satomi H. [Illegal sale of tobacco to minors in Japan]. Nihon Koshu Eisei Zasshi. 1993 Jan;40(1):49–52. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. O'Grady B., Asbridge M., Abernathy T. Analysis of factors related to illegal tobacco sales to young people in Ontario. Tob Control. 1999 Autumn;8(3):301–305. doi: 10.1136/tc.8.3.301. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Rigotti N. A., DiFranza J. R., Chang Y., Tisdale T., Kemp B., Singer D. E. The effect of enforcing tobacco-sales laws on adolescents' access to tobacco and smoking behavior. N Engl J Med. 1997 Oct 9;337(15):1044–1051. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199710093371505. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Sanson-Fisher R. W., Schofield M. J., See M. Availability of cigarettes to minors. Aust J Public Health. 1992 Dec;16(4):354–359. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-6405.1992.tb00081.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Schofield M. J., Sanson-Fisher R. W., Gulliver S. Interventions with retailers to reduce cigarette sales to minors: a randomised controlled trial. Aust N Z J Public Health. 1997 Oct;21(6):590–596. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-842x.1997.tb01761.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Suriyawongpaisal P., Tantiked N. A., Mung-Roen K., Buasai S., Suppawong C. Retailers' compliance to the law banning cigarette sale to minors. J Med Assoc Thai. 1996 Feb;79(2):127–131. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Teall A. M., Graham M. C. Youth access to tobacco in two communities. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2001;33(2):175–178. doi: 10.1111/j.1547-5069.2001.00175.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Voorhees C. C., Swank R. T., Stillman F. A., Harris D. X., Watson H. W., Jr, Becker D. M. Cigarette sales to African-American and white minors in low-income areas of Baltimore. Am J Public Health. 1997 Apr;87(4):652–654. doi: 10.2105/ajph.87.4.652. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Tobacco Control are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES