Table 4.
Association Between Endorsing Pro-menthol Beliefs and Intending to Smoke Menthol Cigarettes Over the Next Year (Menthol Intention Analysis) or Currently Smoking Menthol Cigarettes (Menthol Behavior Analysis)
| Menthol intention analysis; 13- to 17-year-old current nonsmokers (n = 553) | Menthol intention analysis; 18- to 25-year-old never tobacco users (n = 585) | Menthol behavior analysis; 18- to 25-year-old never tobacco users and current menthol smokers (n = 751) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % Intending | Adj. OR (95% CI) | % Intending | Adj. OR (95% CI) | % Menthol smokers | Adj. OR (95% CI) | ||
| Total | 6.0 | 3.9 | 21.9 | ||||
| Harmful to your bodya | Anti-menthol | 6.0 | 3.0 | 22.7 | |||
| Pro-menthol | 6.6 | 0.82 (0.32–2.10) | 7.8 | 2.58^ (0.95–6.98) | 18.2 | 0.83 (0.44–1.57) | |
| Addictivea | Anti-menthol | 6.0 | 3.4 | 22.2 | |||
| Pro-menthol | 7.0 | 0.89 (0.33–2.39) | 7.0 | 2.20 (0.79–6.10) | 20.2 | 0.87 (0.44–1.73) | |
| Nicotinea | Anti-menthol | 6.0 | 2.9 | 23.7 | |||
| Pro-menthol | 6.4 | 0.92 (0.37–2.30) | 7.5 | 2.43 (0.79–7.47) | 15.5 | 0.58^ (0.31–1.10) | |
| Refreshing in tasteb | Anti-menthol | 5.4 | 3.2 | 14.7 | |||
| Pro-menthol | 7.6 | 1.26 (0.62–2.57) | 5.6 | 1.86 (0.75–4.62) | 34.3 | 2.71** (1.73–4.25) | |
| Refreshing in sensationb | Anti-menthol | 4.4 | 2.7 | 14.2 | |||
| Pro-menthol | 9.8 | 2.12* (1.03–4.34) | 7.1 | 2.62* (1.04–6.60) | 36.9 | 3.40** (2.20–5.26) | |
| Easy to smokeb | Anti-menthol | 4.9 | 2.6 | 17.9 | |||
| Pro-menthol | 10.7 | 2.14^ (1.00–4.57) | 9.3 | 3.79** (1.48–9.73) | 35.1 | 2.16** (1.37–3.41) | |
| Soothing for a sore throatb | Anti-menthol | 5.3 | 3.1 | 16.6 | |||
| Pro-menthol | 8.3 | 1.40 (0.65–3.00) | 6.6 | 2.38 (0.76–7.48) | 34.7 | 2.50** (1.60–3.93) | |
| Popularc | Anti-menthol | 4.7 | 3.3 | 18.9 | |||
| Pro-menthol | 16.3 | 3.70** (1.54–8.91) | 9.6 | 2.71^ (0.83–8.81) | 42.2 | 2.35** (1.29–4.29) | |
| Attractivec | Anti-menthol | 5.6 | 3.6 | 20.4 | |||
| Pro-menthol | 13.2 | 2.07 (0.79–5.43) | 8.8 | 3.33* (1.06–10.47) | 38.4 | 1.94* (1.08–3.46) | |
In all models, the anti-menthol belief is the reference category. All models adjust for gender, age, race/ethnicity, sensation seeking, living in a metropolitan area, sibling smoking, living with a tobacco user, and having at least one close friend who uses tobacco. Additionally, the two 18- to 25-year-old models adjust for education. Models that did not adjust for these covariates showed the same pattern of results, albeit with a tendency toward stronger levels of statistical significance. All analyses are restricted to participants who had heard of menthol cigarettes and who had nonmissing data on the belief variables; missing data (due to participant nonresponse) for each belief variable ranged between n = 0 and n = 14. All analyses use weighted data and significance tests adjust for complex sample design. Adj. = adjusted for covariates listed above; OR = odds ratio; CI = confidence interval.
aPro-menthol beliefs combine the two responses indicating that “menthol cigarettes are [contain] less ….”
bPro-menthol beliefs combine the two responses indicating that “menthol cigarettes are more ….”
cPro-menthol beliefs combine the two responses indicating that “menthol smokers are more ….”
**p < .01; *p < .05; ^p < .10.