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The Ontario Ban on Smoking on School Property: Perceived Impact on Smoking

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Abstract

We evaluated the impact of the November 1994 ban on smoking on school property in Ontario. Telephone interviews were conducted at the end of the 1995–96 school year with 213 high school administrators. Almost all high schools (96%) prohibit smoking on school property. Although some smoking still occurs on school property, the location of smoking by students has changed, giving rise to perceptions of both benefits and risks, as well as varying complaints from parents, students, neighbours, and nearby businesses. Most of the problems arising from the ban are viewed as minor. Local conditions, particularly the geographic environment of the school, appear to be important determinants of complaints and problems. While sizeable minorities of school administrators felt the ban had favourable effects, the majority perceived little effect on either smoking behaviour or attitudes towards smoking.

Résumé

Nous avons évalué l’impact de l’interdiction de fumer sur les lieux scolaires, entrée en vigueur en novembre 1994 en Ontario. On a procédé à des entrevues par téléphone à la fin de l’année scolaire 1995–1996 auprès de 213 administrateurs d’écoles secondaires. Pratiquement toutes les écoles secondaires (96 %) interdisent de fumer sur les lieux de l’école. Bien que certaines personnes fument encore sur les lieux de l’école, l’endroit où elles fument a changé, ce qui a donné lieu à de nouvelles perceptions tant des avantages que des risques, ainsi qu’à différentes plaints de la part des parents, des étudiants, des voisins et des commerces avoisinants. La plupart des problèmes découlant de l’interdiction de fumer sont considérés comme mineurs. Les conditions locales, particulièrement la situation géographique de l’école, apparaissent comme d’importants facteurs à l’origine des plaintes et des problèmes. Bien qu’une minorité non négligeable d’administrateurs scolaires ait le sentiment que l’interdiction a eu des effets bénéfiques, pour la majorité d’entre eux par contre, elle n’a eu que peu d’influence sur le tabagisme ou sur les attitudes à son sujet.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Social Research, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada

    David A. Northrup MA

  2. Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, Centre for Health Promotion, University of Toronto, Canada

    Mary Jane Ashley MD & Roberta Ferrence PhD

  3. Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Canada

    Mary Jane Ashley MD & Roberta Ferrence PhD

  4. Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario, Canada

    Roberta Ferrence PhD

Authors
  1. David A. Northrup MA
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  2. Mary Jane Ashley MD
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  3. Roberta Ferrence PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David A. Northrup MA.

Additional information

This work was conducted under the auspices of the Institute for Social Research and the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit with financial support from the Ontario Ministry of Health.

This paper is based on a report submitted to the Ontario Ministry of Health (The Ban on Smoking on School Property: Successes and Challenges, December 1996). A copy of this report, which provides a detailed description of the research methodology, is available from the publication series of the Institute for Social Research at York University.

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Northrup, D.A., Ashley, M.J. & Ferrence, R. The Ontario Ban on Smoking on School Property: Perceived Impact on Smoking. Can J Public Health 89, 224–228 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03403921

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