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ObjectivesThis study examines in a cross-sectional study ‘the tobacco control environment’ including tobacco policy implementation and its association with quit ratio.Setting545 communities from 17 high-income, upper-middle, low-middle and low-income countries (HIC, UMIC, LMIC, LIC) involved in the Environmental Profile of a Community's Health (EPOCH) study from 2009 to 2014.ParticipantsCommunity audits and surveys of adults (35–70 years, n=12 953).Primary and secondary outcome measuresSummary scores of tobacco policy implementation (cost and availability of cigarettes, tobacco advertising, antismoking signage), social unacceptability and knowledge were associated with quit ratios (former vs ever smokers) using multilevel logistic regression models.ResultsAverage tobacco control policy score was greater in communities from HIC. Overall 56.1% (306/545) of communities had >2 outlets selling cigarettes and in 28.6% (154/539) there was access to cheap cigarettes (<5cents/cigarette) (3.2% (3/93) in HIC, 0% UMIC, 52.6% (90/171) LMIC and 40.4% (61/151) in LIC). Effective bans (no tobacco advertisements) were in 63.0% (341/541) of communities (81.7% HIC, 52.8% UMIC, 65.1% LMIC and 57.6% LIC). In 70.4% (379/538) of communities, >80% of participants disapproved youth smoking (95.7% HIC, 57.6% UMIC, 76.3% LMIC and 58.9% LIC). The average knowledge score was >80% in 48.4% of communities (94.6% HIC, 53.6% UMIC, 31.8% LMIC and 35.1% LIC). Summary scores of policy implementation, social unacceptability and knowledge were positively and significantly associated with quit ratio and the associations varied by gender, for example, communities in the highest quintile of the combined scores had 5.0 times the quit ratio in men (Odds ratio (OR) 5·0, 95% CI 3.4 to 7.4) and 4.1 times the quit ratio in women (OR 4.1, 95% CI 2.4 to 7.1).ConclusionsThis study suggests that more focus is needed on ensuring the tobacco control policy is actually implemented, particularly in LMICs. The gender-related differences in associations of policy, social unacceptability and knowledge suggest that different strategies to promoting quitting may need to be implemented in men compared to women.

BackgroundThe Smokefree Class Competition, the largest school-based smoking prevention programme in Europe, aims to create a class climate that denormalises smoking. An analysis was carried out to assess whether it increases bullying or perception of isolation.MethodsA cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted, with two waves of assessment directly before the start and immediately after the end of the prevention programme. Some 3490 students were recruited from 84 secondary schools in Germany, of whom 3123 students (90%) provided data from both waves. Classes from the intervention group (IG) participated in the Smokefree Class Competition, committing themselves to stay smokefree for a period of 6 months, and self-monitoring their smoking status on a weekly basis. Classes that refrained from smoking were eligible for a prize draw. To test the hypotheses that participation in the competition might foster bullying, we measured students' self report of (1) being victimised, (2) engaging in bullying and (3) being isolated.ResultsThere was a strong association between daily smoking and higher odds of bullying others at baseline (adjusted proportional OR 4.66; 95% CI 3.38 to 6.43). No significant pre–post differences across treatment assignment groups were found on any bullying measure using generalised linear latent and mixed models. For being isolated, the trends suggested that the programme, if anything, fostered lower levels of isolation at follow-up, especially for those who perceived high levels of isolation at baseline.ConclusionParticipation in the intervention had no effect on bullying or perceptions of isolation.Trial Reg NoISRCTN27091233 in Current Control Trial Register.

Background Cigarette smoking remains highly prevalent in Lebanon, posing a significant public health challenge. This study examined how social desirability and smoking unacceptability influence self-reported cigarette use and dependence among Lebanese adults, accounting for relevant sociodemographic factors. Method An online, cross-sectional study recruited 460 Lebanese adults between February and March 2025 through snowball sampling by disseminating the survey link on social media. Validated measures were used to assess the various concepts. Result Among 460 Lebanese adults (mean age 25.35±9.17 years, 70.2% female), multivariate logistic regression revealed that higher Socially Strategic Pragmatism was negatively associated with current smoking (ORa=0.94, p=0.019), while Independent Thinking showed a marginal positive association (ORa=1.05, p=0.085). School-level education (ORa=5.00, p=0.004) and unemployment (ORa=3.13, p=0.003) were associated with higher smoking odds. For cigarette dependence, Virtuous Perfectionism was negatively associated (ORa=0.99, p=0.009), and smoking social unacceptability showed a strong protective effect (ORa=0.80, p<0.001). Male gender (ORa=1.69, p<0.001), older age (ORa=1.02, p=0.002), and higher AUDIT scores (ORa=1.04, p<0.001) were positively associated with dependence, while unemployment (ORa=0.70, p=0.004) and not consuming alcohol while smoking (ORa=0.55, p=0.004) were negatively associated. Result This study demonstrated that social desirability bias was significantly associated with reported cigarette use and dependence patterns among Lebanese adults, in addition to sex, religion, social influence, and socioeconomic factors. Tobacco control interventions in Lebanon should incorporate culturally sensitive approaches that address social norms and use validated measures to account for social desirability bias, potentially ensuring more accurate prevalence estimates and more effective public health strategies.

The Radical Unacceptability Hypothesis (RUH) has been proposed as a way of explaining the unacceptability of extraction from islands and frozen structures. This hypothesis explicitly assumes a distinction between unacceptability due to violations of local well-formedness conditions—conditions on constituency, constituent order, and morphological form—and unacceptability due to extra-grammatical factors. We explore the RUH with respect to classical islands, and extend it to a broader range of phenomena, including freezing, A′ chain interactions, zero-relative clauses, topic islands, weak crossover, extraction from subjects and parasitic gaps, and sensitivity to information structure. The picture that emerges is consistent with the RUH, and suggests more generally that the unacceptability of extraction from otherwise well-formed configurations reflects non-syntactic factors, not principles of grammar.

It is often proposed that the unacceptability of a semantically interpretable sentence can be rooted in its meaning. Elaborating on Oshima (in Washio T et al (eds) New frontiers in artificial intelligence, Springer, Berlin, 2007), we argue that the meaning-driven unacceptability of factive islands must make reference to felicity conditions, and cannot be reduced to the triviality of propositional content. We also observe, again elaborating on Oshima, that the triviality of factive islands need not be logical, but can be relative to a listener's background assumptions. These findings call for a revision of a prevalent view about meaning-driven unacceptability, according to which unacceptability results from triviality that is both propositional and logical.

Money was found to be generally unacceptable as a present no matter what the relationship. For intimate relationships, more was spent on money than on a gift when the receiver had higher status than giver, and less was spent on money when the giver had higher status. Overall, intimacy dictated the amount spent on a present, whereas relative status had more effect on the unacceptability of money as a gift. (Abstract amended)