Contextual factors and youth tobacco use: policy linkages.

This paper provides a short commentary on the set of papers contained in this special issue that discuss various contextual factors that affect youth smoking. It highlights the interrelationships between the economic and policy factors, media influences, community factors, peer influences and familial factors that impact on youth smoking. Particular emphasis is given to the direct effects of prices and policies on youth smoking, and to the indirect effects of these factors as they work through the other contextual factors.