Middle school students' perceived access to cigarettes in Virginia

OBJECTIVE: To examine correlates of perceived access to cigarettes at home, school, and the store among youth. METHODS: Virginia middle school youth were surveyed before beginning tobacco prevention programs. Multivariate analyses examined household smoking, peer smoking, and perceived community tobacco use for their relationship to perceived access at home, school, and the store. RESULTS: Perceived access at home was associated with parent, sibling, and friend smoking. Perceived access at school and stores was associated with perceived peer and community smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Youth tobacco prevention programs should target the commercial and social sources of tobacco access to reduce experimentation, adoption, and addiction among youth.