TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of the local retail environment in the tobacco-purchasing behaviour of underage adolescents in Amsterdam
AU - Peeters, Denise A. M.
AU - van Deelen, Tessa R. D.
AU - Kunst, Anton E.
AU - van den Putte, Bas
AU - Kuipers, Mirte A. G.
N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was part of the ‘Tobacco out of Sight’ project funded by the Dutch Lung Foundation, the Dutch Heart Foundation, the Dutch Cancer Society, the Dutch Thrombosis Foundation and the Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation, under project reference 2.1.19.007. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2023.
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Objective: Despite a nationwide ban on tobacco sales to people under 18 years of age, adolescents can still buy tobacco products in Amsterdam. This study aimed to understand the influence of the retail environment in adolescents’ activity spaces on their tobacco-purchasing behaviour. Method: Interviews were conducted with 13 adolescents (aged 14–19 years) who went to school in Amsterdam and had ever bought tobacco products. Questions were based on the capability, opportunity, motivation, behaviour (COM-B) model. City maps showing all tobacco outlets were used to visualise respondents’ activity spaces and purchasing areas. Transcripts were analysed thematically. Results: Adolescents preferred purchasing tobacco at shops where they had successfully purchased it before, instead of going to just any shop close by. They purchased tobacco products mostly in small shops. Supermarkets were avoided, as employees complied with age-verification procedures. The city centre provided easy access because the density of small shops was high. In adolescents’ residential area, acquaintances behind the counter might facilitate tobacco purchase, while it was a barrier for minors who secretly smoked. At school, adolescents developed a collective knowledge of shops that sold tobacco products to minors either near school or further away. Tobacco was also bought on the black market because it was cheaper or because it was possible to buy specific products (e.g. snus). Conclusion: Tobacco purchasing by minors is less about the proximity and more about which stores in their activity spaces sell tobacco products to minors. Policies should therefore be aimed at the enforcement of age limits and reducing the number of small shops selling tobacco.
AB - Objective: Despite a nationwide ban on tobacco sales to people under 18 years of age, adolescents can still buy tobacco products in Amsterdam. This study aimed to understand the influence of the retail environment in adolescents’ activity spaces on their tobacco-purchasing behaviour. Method: Interviews were conducted with 13 adolescents (aged 14–19 years) who went to school in Amsterdam and had ever bought tobacco products. Questions were based on the capability, opportunity, motivation, behaviour (COM-B) model. City maps showing all tobacco outlets were used to visualise respondents’ activity spaces and purchasing areas. Transcripts were analysed thematically. Results: Adolescents preferred purchasing tobacco at shops where they had successfully purchased it before, instead of going to just any shop close by. They purchased tobacco products mostly in small shops. Supermarkets were avoided, as employees complied with age-verification procedures. The city centre provided easy access because the density of small shops was high. In adolescents’ residential area, acquaintances behind the counter might facilitate tobacco purchase, while it was a barrier for minors who secretly smoked. At school, adolescents developed a collective knowledge of shops that sold tobacco products to minors either near school or further away. Tobacco was also bought on the black market because it was cheaper or because it was possible to buy specific products (e.g. snus). Conclusion: Tobacco purchasing by minors is less about the proximity and more about which stores in their activity spaces sell tobacco products to minors. Policies should therefore be aimed at the enforcement of age limits and reducing the number of small shops selling tobacco.
KW - Minors
KW - retail environment
KW - tobacco purchase
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85176928368&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1177/00178969231210212
DO - https://doi.org/10.1177/00178969231210212
M3 - Article
SN - 0017-8969
VL - 82
SP - 922
EP - 934
JO - Health education journal
JF - Health education journal
IS - 8
ER -