The current study was conducted to address this gap in the literature. Using data from a prospective, longitudinal survey of US adults, we aimed to: a) test whether increases in cigarette taxes are associated with reductions in alcohol consumption over time, and b) evaluate whether the association between cigarette taxation and drinking outcomes is modified by smoking status, key demographic variables, and hazardous drinking. Past research has shown that the impact of tobacco-related policies on drinking behaviors are stronger among heavy drinkers and smokers (Kasza et al., 2012; McKee et al., 2009) and we hypothesize that the influence of cigarette taxation on alcohol consumption will also be stronger among these subgroups. Further, young adults, individuals with low SES, and men are particularly responsive to cigarette taxes (Chaloupka & Pacula, 1999; Chaloupka et al., 2012), and available evidence suggests that smoke-free policies may be more strongly protective against alcohol use disorders in men versus women (Young-Wolff et al., 2013). Thus, we also conducted stratified analyses to investigate whether the association between increases in cigarette taxes and changes in alcohol consumption vary among these subgroups.
