UIC Awarded $14 Million to Study Tobacco Pricing and Media
The University of Illinois at Chicago has received $14.2 million from the National Cancer Institute to study how mass media and tax and pricing affects tobacco use and behavior.
The two five-year studies at UIC’s Institute for Health Research and
Policy build on previous tobacco research conducted by the institute to
better understand what factors influence smoking behaviors.
In one study, senior research scientist Sherry Emery and colleagues
will measure the extent to which people are exposed to, search for, and
exchange both pro- and anti-tobacco information in mass media, how these
activities are related to one another, and ultimately, how these
actions are related to smoking behavior, beliefs and attitudes.
In evaluating pro- and anti-tobacco information the researchers will
use existing data to assess passive exposure to television
advertisements, banner ads that pop up on the internet, and sponsored
text messaging; what people actively search for on the internet; and
what people exchange via social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and
YouTube.
"The hypothesis is that if you're exposed to, for example, an ad
that says you should quit smoking your level of engagement with that
information will be substantially lower than if you actively search the
Internet for ways to quit smoking; in turn, engagement will be even
greater if you share your experience with quitting via social media.
These different levels of engagement may be associated in important ways
to tobacco-related attitudes, beliefs and behavior," says Emery,
principal investigator of the $7.2 million NCI-funded grant.
Emery's study will also collect new data from an online survey of
15,000 people in the country's top 75 media markets to obtain media
market estimates of people's behavior and their consumption of pro- and
anti-tobacco information from a variety of mass media, as well as
smoking behavior information and demographics.
The tobacco industry is prohibited from advertising on television,
but they are not prohibited from providing information about their
products that can be actively searched for on the internet, says Emery,
whose previous research has examined the impact of tobacco-related
television advertising on youth and adult smoking attitudes and
behaviors.
Watching television, while still the dominant source of information
for many people, is a different behavior than it was five years ago,
Emery said.
In the other study, Frank Chaloupka, distinguished professor of
economics and director of the Health Policy Center at UIC, and
colleagues will assess policies affecting retail tobacco prices over a
10-year period; evaluate the impact of price-reducing promotions on
tobacco purchasing behaviors, such as choice of product and brand; and
determine to what extent consumers will avoid paying tax on tobacco
products by crossing county or state borders, or by purchasing online or
by phone or mail order.
The study will also investigate how pricing and tax policies impact
tobacco behaviors, including prevalence, frequency and intensity of use,
youth uptake, cessation, and substitution among products.
"Tobacco tax increases are widely recognized as the most effective
policy governments have for reducing the death, disease and economic
costs imposed by tobacco use,” said Chaloupka. “Findings from this
project will help to ensure that these policies are designed and
implemented in a way that maximizes their effectiveness in reducing
tobacco use and its consequences.”
Chaloupka has conducted extensive research on the economics of
tobacco use and found that increases in cigarette prices -- including
tax hikes -- lead to significant reductions in smoking. This research
has led to many substance-abuse policy initiatives and has been cited by
the U.S. surgeon general's office.
Co-investigators on Chaloupka's $6.9 million NCI grant are Emery,
Jamie Chriqui, Jidong Huang, David Merriman, Sandy Slater, and John
Tauras, all from UIC; Andrew Hyland, Roswell Park Cancer Institute;
Chuck Alexander, Burness Communications; and Dianne Barker, Barker
Bi-Coastal Health Consultants.
Co-investigators on Emery's grant are Chaloupka, Jidong Huang, and
Robin Mermelstein, all from UIC; Joseph Cappella, University of
Pennsylvania; and Kurt Ribisl, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
The results of the research will be disseminated to policy makers,
advocates, public health practitioners, researchers, and the general
public.
UIC's Institute for Health Research and Policy has been recognized
by the country’s foremost research funding agencies, including the
National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
for leadership and expertise in conducting ongoing tobacco research.