Understanding How Exposure to Tobacco Retailers Shapes Smoking Behavior and Wellbeing
The Communication Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pennsylvania conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine how exposure to tobacco retailers affects cigarette craving and smoking in individuals who smoke daily. This study examines whether exposure to point-of-sale tobacco marketing affects cigarette cravings, smoking behavior, and neural reactivity in response to different types of smoking cues, including photographs of retail outlets.
On this website, we provide a description of the dataset, and study resources (including our surveys, code, and tobacco retailer database). If you’re interested in collaborating with us on further analysis of this dataset, send a request using the “Collaborate With Us” link on the left!
Background
Cigarette smoking accounts for 1 in 5 deaths annually in the U.S. Exposure to tobacco retail has been linked to adverse smoking outcomes, but research utilizing naturalistic and causal approaches to quantify these effects in the real world remains relatively sparse.
To address this, we used ecological momentary assessment, geolocation tracking, and neuroimaging to assess smoking outcomes in the real world, and conducted a randomized controlled trial focused on the effects of exposure to tobacco retail.
Objectives
Our study addresses three key research questions:
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Association: Examine within-person associations between real-world tobacco retail exposure and cigarette craving/smoking
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Causation: Establish causal effects of real-world tobacco retail exposure through a randomized controlled trial
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Mechanism: Investigate neural cue reactivity as a mechanism for real-world tobacco retail effects
Explore the Study
External Resources
University of Pennsylvania
Annenberg School for Communication & Annenberg Public Policy Center