The Social Climate Survey provides a method

to monitor changes in social and environmental

objectives, as well as an institutional framework

to organize and interpret these results.

This approach operationalizes the concept of

social climate into a set of quantifiable social

and environmental indicators - organized within

an institutional framework. Social scientists

typically conceptualize societal changes as

occurring through changes in social institutions,

such as the family, school, work place,

and government. As a fundamental component

of a society, these social institutions emerge as

clusterings of beliefs, norms, and practices.

Moreover, beliefs, norms, and practices about

tobacco use and tobacco control have evolved

in each of these institutional areas which then

shape the status of tobacco use in the social

fabric of American society. The Social

Climate Survey consists of a set of questions

designed to measure the norms, practices, and

beliefs concerning tobacco within each of the

following institutions; 1) Family and Friendship

Groups, 2) Education, 3) Government and

Political Order, 4) Work, 5) Health and Medical

Care, 6) Recreation, Leisure, and Sports, and 7)

Mass Communication and Culture.

Tobacco control and tobacco use is not carried

out in a vacuum. Youth and adults make

choices about tobacco use in the social context

of institutional beliefs, norms, and practices.

This survey is an attempt to contribute to the understanding of tobacco control through the introduction of an institutional-based perspective that stresses not simply individual variations in behaviors and attitudes, but rather attempts to use cross-sectional survey data to monitor trends for societal norms, practices, and beliefs surrounding tobacco. This technique is primarily one of a shift in focus and interpretation rather than basic survey methodology.

The design of the survey instrument was based on an extensive review of extant instruments such as the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System, the Current Population Survey - Tobacco Supplement, and the California Adult Tobacco Survey, and supplemented by additional items needed to flesh out the social climate concept. The reliance on existing measurements was greatly enhanced by the review and excellent advice from the Office of Smoking and Health of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The origins of this study can be traced to research associated with the tobacco settlement in Mississippi. We developed the social climate approach to help the Mississippi Tobacco Control Foundation – The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi and the Mississippi State Department of Health - monitor the degree to which their efforts were impacting the social fabric of Mississippi.

This survey is an attempt to contribute to the understanding of tobacco control through the introduction of an institutional-based perspective that stresses not simply individual variations in behaviors and attitudes, but rather attempts to use cross-sectional survey data to monitor trends for societal norms, practices, and beliefs surrounding tobacco. This technique is primarily one of a shift in focus and interpretation rather than basic survey methodology.

The design of the survey instrument was based on an extensive review of extant instruments such as the Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System, the Current Population Survey - Tobacco Supplement, and the California Adult Tobacco Survey, and supplemented by additional items needed to flesh out the social climate concept. The reliance on existing measurements was greatly enhanced by the review and excellent advice from the Office of Smoking and Health of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The origins of this study can be traced to research associated with the tobacco settlement in Mississippi.

In 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General formally announced the health risks of tobacco, thereby providing the impetus for one of the most intensive public health interventions in the history of the United States. Spanning several decades, the tobacco control movement has developed an increasingly effective series of social programs and policies designed to encourage nonsmoking and protect nonsmokers from environmental tobacco smoke. In the years following the initiation of the tobacco control movement, the percentage of current cigarette smokers in the American adult population has decreased dramatically from 42.2 percent in 1965 to 22.7 percent in 1999. This decrease translates into about 40 million fewer adult smokers in the United States today than had the rate remained at 42.2 percent. As the Office of Smoking and Health of the CDC notes, “This achievement has few parallels in the history of public health. It was accomplished despite the addictive nature of tobacco and the powerful economic forces promoting its use.”

In the 35 years following the release of the historic 1964 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health, the antismoking campaign has been a major success. In 1997, the state of Mississippi won an historical settlement against the tobacco industry; several other states followed this precedent. A coalition of 46 state Attorneys General reached a Master Settlement Agreement with the tobacco companies in 1998. These settlements have provided resources for the implementation of a national tobacco control program directed by the American Legacy Foundation, as well as the resources for several state-level comprehensive tobacco control programs.

To our knowledge, the present project is the most comprehensive survey of the extent to which tobacco control impacts the daily lives of Americans; it is also the first project to describe the social climate of tobacco control since most of these comprehensive programs were implemented. The 2000 National Social Climate Survey adds new knowledge about the public health movement by determining the degree to which tobacco control practices, beliefs, and norms have become ingrained in the societal fabric of America. The Social Climate Survey monitors tobacco control in the social institutions of everyday life - the American family, the American school, the workplace, government, health care, recreation/leisure, and mass media.

There is substantial variability in the penetration of tobacco control across social institutions. Americans are very supportive of tobacco control measures within the family, education, and government institutions that restrict youth access to tobacco but fail to generalize this support for restrictions on youth exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, adult role models, tobacco advertisements, and tobacco logos. Some aspects of tobacco control had considerable impact upon the institutions of the workplace, health and medical care, and government and political order; yet there remains substantial work to be done. Also, tobacco control has met the most resistance in the institutions of recreation, sports, and, notably, leisure and mass communication and culture.

Although important gains have been made by the tobacco control movement, the progress has not been universally realized across society. Because 46 million American adults continue to smoke cigarettes, it is clear there is substantial unfinished business for tobacco control. This report investigates one aspect of the unfinished business for tobacco control: the current social climate for tobacco control in American society. In July 2000, the National Social Climate Survey was conducted by the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University to determine tobacco use, norms, practices, and beliefs throughout the fabric of American society. Seven social institutions are included in our approach: American family life, education, work, recreation and leisure, government, health, and mass communication. In each of these, tobacco use and tobacco control have evolved. It is these institutional beliefs, norms, and practices that form the essence of the ingrained status of tobacco use in the social fabric of American society. By monitoring the social climate, it becomes possible to identify the arenas in which tobacco control has been successfully ingrained in the fabric of society.