NCJ Number
214664
Journal
Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse Volume: 15 Issue: 4 Dated: 2006 Pages: 75-87
Date Published
2006
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study compared the cumulative impact of anti-smoking messages among sixth, seventh, and eighth graders at three private schools in the South.
Abstract
Overall, results indicated no significant differences in student smoking attitudes or intentions among the three schools, although sixth graders endorsed healthier attitudes than students in seventh or eighth grades despite similar anti-tobacco messages. Girls reported healthier attitudes toward smoking than boys. Associations were found between healthy tobacco attitudes/intentions and number of friends who used tobacco and healthy tobacco attitudes/intentions and good grades. The findings suggest that anti-tobacco messages should focus specifically on seventh and eighth grade boys. Participants were 312 students who completed the Youth Tobacco Survey (YTS) at the beginning of the fall semester and 302 students who completed the YTS at the beginning of the spring semester during the 2001-2002 school year. One school had tobacco lessons plus health-promotion teams, the second school had tobacco lessons, and the third school had classes as usual. All three schools had no prior tobacco prevention training. Data analysis involved analyses of variance and least significant difference followup tests. Future research should focus on discovering the optimal number of anti-tobacco messages for groups of middle school students as well as students in other age groups. Tables, references