World Polity and Youth Smoking Rates in Developing Nations: A Cross-national Analysis

• In Event: 043 - Section on Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 04. Social Factors and Substance Use

Abstract

In the past 20 years global tobacco companies have focused on expanding their market share in developing nations. Part of this strategy is to target young people in these nations by tailoring advertisements and other promotions to make cigarettes and other tobacco products more prominent and available. The most recent data from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey shows that these attempts have led to increases in the youth smoking rates in many nations. In order to counteract this trend International Non-governmental Organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have targeted the spread of tobacco globally with grants and other forms of support for anti-smoking education and public awareness campaigns. Other INGOs have joined effort to prevent and decrease youth smoking rates in the developing world. Using data from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, the World Bank and UN Trade database I conduct a first difference regression analysis on the impact of health-based INGOs on national youth smoking rates. I find strong support for the contentions of world polity theorists that health-based INGOs can have significant impacts on national health outcomes.

Author

• Gary Maynard, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga