Objective: Studies have shown that smoke-free (SF) workplace policies can create an SF environment, but most of them have focused only on reducing secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure or changing smoking behavior. Our study aims to explore the effects of SF workplace policies and the pathway between workplace SF policies and SHS exposure. Method: 14 195 employees from 79 companies in China participated in this survey. Binary logistic regression is used to examine the direct effects of SF workplace policies. Structured Equation Modeling approach is used to test other indirect effects. The Sobel test is used to estimate the mediation effect. Results: Working in a company with SF policies was associated with lower SHS exposure (odds ratio = 0.56; 95% confidence interval = 0.51 to 0.60). Such policy were associated with lower smoking prevalence (Coef. = −0.05, p < .05) and positively associated with smoking harm awareness (Coef. = 0.07, p < .05) and SHS harm awareness (Coef. = 0.05, p < .05). Sobel test suggests that approximately 16.3% of the effects on SHS exposure reduction are mediated through the channel of lower smoking prevalence for males. For smokers, we did not identify a direct effect of such policies on quitting intentions, but a significant indirect effect via increased smoking harm awareness (Coef. = 0.07, p < .05) and lower smoking consumption (Coef. = −0.10, p < .05) were found. Conclusion: This study finds that SF workplace policies are not only associated with lower SHS exposure but also related to some indirect effects. Further mediation analyses for males confirmed that the effect on SHS exposure reduction is mediated through the channel of lower smoking prevalence. Implications: This study joins the debate in recent years on the effects of workplace SF policies and provides evidence with more comprehensive data from Asia Best Workplace Mainland China program. It shows that SF workplace policies not only can reduce SHS exposure but also are associated with lower smoking prevalence, fewer cigarettes smoked, and higher smoking harm-related awareness. These findings provide valuable evidence to promote such policies in all workplaces and underline the need for more stringent SF policies to be enacted in all countries.

Background: Despite a number of studies linking family and marriage factors with health behaviour, the effects of children on the health behaviour of parents are still understudied. This study explored the association between the presence of children and adults’ smoking behaviours. Methods: This study used panel data from the China Family Panel Studies 2010 and 2012, and the data set included 23,157 households and 45,513 adults. Logistic regression was performed to analyse the association of the presence of children on adults’ smoking behaviours. Subgroup regression was used to examine heterogeneous effects. Results: Full sample regressions showed that the number of children was significantly inversely associated with smoking behaviour (OR = 0.93; 95% 0.90–0.96). Further subsample regression finds that such effect is only significant among the high-education group (OR = 0.92; 95% 0.87–0.97), high-skill workers (OR = 0.89; 95% 0.80–0.99) and couples who had an age gap greater than 2 years (OR = 0.91; 95% 0.88–0.95). Conclusions: Our findings confirm the existence of the upward intergenerational effect of the presence of children on adults’ smoking behaviour in China. However, such effects are not equal across all demographic characteristics. Future research could explore other parts of the upward mechanism and possible pathways for a stronger effect. In resource-poor areas, targeting cessation activities at those who have children at an early age may be an effective strategy.

Objective: Both alcohol drinking and second-hand smoke (SHS) exposure have shown a strong association with smoking behaviour. This study uses mediation analysis to clarify the process underlying the relationship between smoking prevalence and SHS exposure and the extent to which this relationship is mediated by alcohol use in the workplace. Method: A total of 14,195 employees from 81 companies in China participated in this survey. Mediation analysis was used to establish the mediation effect of alcohol drinking. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to evaluate the role of alcohol drinking when a smoke-free (SF) workplace policy was imposed. Results: For males, approximately 6.3% of the effects on SHS exposure were mediated through the channel of alcohol use. For females, this channel mediated 14.1% of the total effects. SF policy was negatively associated with smoking prevalence and SHS exposure. The indirect effect of the SF policy on reducing SHS exposure by controlling smoking behaviour was significant. For smokers, worksite smoking bans were negatively associated with the smoking amount and drinking behaviour, and the indirect effect of this policy on promoting smokers’ intention to quit by reducing the smoking amount and controlling drinking behaviour was significant. Conclusion: This study confirmed that alcohol drinking is among the channels that mediate the association between smoking prevalence and SHS exposure in workplaces. Our results also find a spillover effect of SF workplace policy and call for effective interventions for alcohol use, which may influence the outcomes of SF policy implementation.