The impact of local smoking culture on the smoking behavior of U.S. soldiers
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Authors
Stoudemire, Brandy L.
Subjects
smoking
tobacco use
cultural influence
peer effects
U.S. Army
military
tobacco use
cultural influence
peer effects
U.S. Army
military
Advisors
Cunha, Jesse
Shen, Yu-Chu
Date of Issue
2018-03
Date
Mar-18
Publisher
Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
Military members seemingly have a greater propensity for smoking than civilians. This observation has motivated many researchers to explore the military’s historic relationship with tobacco and to examine the ways in which military culture promotes tobacco usage. The U.S. Army offers a unique opportunity to conduct natural experiments that measure cultural effects on smoking behavior because its soldiers are randomly assigned to their duty locations. My research exploits the variation in smoking behavior throughout the United States by using state level smoking prevalence rates as a proxy measure for local smoking culture. I employ fixed effects models to compare the self-reported smoking behavior of individual U.S. Army soldiers to the smoking culture of their assigned state to address two primary questions: 1) Is there significant evidence that a soldier’s smoking behavior changes when he or she moves to a state with a different smoking culture? And 2) Is the same state level variation in smoking prevalence observed in the general population also observed in the Army population? My research provides initial evidence that local smoking culture influences soldiers’ decisions about smoking, and I recommend ways the U.S. Department of Defense can leverage cultural effects to reduce smoking prevalence in the military.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Business & Public Policy (GSBPP)
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
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Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.