In 2010, around seven in 10 (69%) young people thought they definitely could not get cigarettes/tobacco from anyone in their family/whānau or from their home if they wanted to, while around three in 10 (32%) thought they definitely could not get cigarettes/tobacco from any of their friends if they wanted to.
Methodology
Respondents were asked, if you wanted to, do you think you could get any cigarettes/tobacco from:
• Anyone in your family/whānau, or from your home?
• Any of your friends?
Response options ‘definitely not’, ‘probably not’, ‘probably yes’, and ‘definitely yes’ are shown in Figure 1 for both questions. Statistically significant differences (p<.05) in ‘definitely not’ responses are then reported by:
• Smoking status (current smokers, compared with never smokers).
• Smoking susceptibility (non-susceptible never smokers, compared with susceptible never smokers).
• Ethnicity (Māori, compared with non-Māori)
• Gender (females, compared with males).
• School decile (low: decile1-3; mid: decile 4-7; compared with high: decile 8-10).
Key Results
- Young people were less likely to think that they could get tobacco from family than from friends. Around seven in 10 responded that they definitely could not get tobacco from family, while around three in 10 responded that they definitely could not get tobacco from friends.
- Those who had never tried smoking, compared with those who were current smokers, were more likely to respond that they definitely could not get tobacco from family and friends. Of never smokers, those who were not susceptible to start smoking in the future, compared with those who were susceptible, were more likely to respond that they definitely could not get tobacco from family and friends.
- Non-Māori, compared with Māori, were more likely to respond that they definitely could not get tobacco from family, and this difference was not due to differences in smoking status or family smoking status.
- Non-Māori, compared with Māori, were also more likely to respond that they definitely could not get tobacco from friends. However, this difference was due to lower rates of smoking and lower rates of friends’ smoking among non-Māori, rather than ethnicity per se.
- There were no differences by gender or socioeconomic status in perceived access to tobacco from family and friends.