In high-income countries, smoke-free policies have reduced involuntary exposure to toxic secondhand tobacco smoke, reduced tobacco consumption, and promoted phase 3 quitting (Brownson, Hopkins, & Wakefield, 2002; Fichtenberg & Glantz, 2002). Although smokers�� respect for the law may account for such changes, smoke-free laws presumably reflect and communicate social norms around smoking behavior in public places, and research has generally focused on how smoke-free policies change smokers�� behavior by decreasing the social acceptability of smoking (Hamilton, Biener, & Brennan, 2008; Jacobson & Zapawa, 2001; Wasserman, Manning, Newhouse, & Winkler, 1991). Nevertheless, efforts to illustrate empirically that smoke-free policies reduce the social acceptability of smoking have provided inconsistent results (Biener, Abrams, Follick, & Dean, 1989; Biener et al.

, 1999; Gottlieb, Eriksen, Lovato, Weinstein, & Green, 1990; Hamilton et al., 2008). Moreover, little research has been undertaken to determine the psychosocial and behavioral impacts of smoke-free policies in low- and middle-income countries, where tobacco-attributable mortality is increasing (Mathers & Loncar, 2006). Smoke-free policies in Mexico and Uruguay contrasted strikingly at the time of data collection for the present study. Uruguay’s 2006 comprehensive smoke-free policy prohibited smoking in all enclosed workplaces including restaurants and bars, whereas Mexico smoke-free policy at that time was limited mainly to government buildings and hospitals (Thrasher et al., 2006).

Nevertheless, polling data from Mexico and Uruguay indicate widespread public support for smoke-free policies. In 2006, after smoke-free policy implementation in Uruguay, 92% of urban Uruguayan adults indicated that secondhand smoke (SHS) was dangerous and 80% were in favor of the law (Sebri��, Schoj, & Glantz, 2008). Polls conducted among urban-dwelling adults in Mexico in 2007 indicated similarly high levels of support for smoke-free policies (80%�C83%) in enclosed public areas and workplaces (Abundis, 2008). Slightly higher levels of support for smoke-free policies have been found among Mexican youth (Bird et al., 2007), with the percentage of urban youth supporting smoke-free policies increasing from 2003 to 2006 (Vald��s-Salgado et al., 2006). No analyses have been undertaken in either Mexico or Uruguay to assess which factors predict support for smoke-free policies or to assess Brefeldin_A other attitudinal and normative factors that are presumably associated with smoke-free policies. Furthermore, no data are available on the prevalence of voluntary smoke-free policies either in Mexico or in Uruguay before smoke-free policy implementation.