Residential smoking restrictions are not associated with reduced child SHS exposure in a baseline sample of low-income, urban African Americans.

Second hand smoke exposure (SHSe) relates to many chronic and acute illnesses. Low income African American (AA) maternal smokers and their children have disproportionately higher tobacco-use and child SHSe-related morbidity and mortality than other populations. While public health officials promote residential smoking restrictions to reduce SHSe and promote smoking cessation, little is known about the impact of restrictions in changing smoking behavior and SHSe in this population. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine associations between residential smoking restrictions, maternal smoking, and young children's SHSe in the context of other factors known to influence low income AA mothers' smoking behavior. For this study, we used cross-sectional, baseline data from 307 AA maternal smokers' pre-treatment interviews completed as part of a subsequent behavioral counseling trial to reduce their young (< 4 years old) children's SHSe. Residential smoking restriction was dichotomized as 0 = no restrictions and 1 = some restrictions. Child urine cotinine provided a biomarker of SHSe. Mothers reported cigarettes/day smoked, cigarettes/day exposed to child, and intention to quit. Multivariate regressions modeled effects of restriction as the primary predictor of smoking and exposure outcomes. Maternal smoking patterns such as cigarettes per day (