State legislators' beliefs about legislation that restricts youth access to tobacco products

Better understanding of the cognitive framework for decision making among legislators is important for advocacy of health-promoting legislation. In 1994, the authors surveyed state legislators from North Carolina, Texas, and Vermont concerning their beliefs and intentions related to voting for a hypothetical measure to enforce legislation preventing the sale of tobacco to minors, using scales based on the theory of planned behavior. Attitude (importance), subjective norm (whether most people important to you would say you should or should not vote for the law), perceived behavioral control (ability to cast one's vote for the law), and home state were independently and significantly related to intention to vote for the law's enforcement. The results, including descriptive data concerning individual beliefs, suggest specific public health strategies to increase legislative support for passing legislation to restrict youth tobacco sales and, more generally, a framework for studying policy making and advocacy.