NCJ Number
214337
Journal
Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse Volume: 15 Issue: 3 Dated: 2006 Pages: 63-81
Date Published
2006
Length
19 pages
Annotation
A total of 2,029 7th-12th-grade girls living in 1 of 7 adjoining rural counties in southeastern Virginia were studied to determine the influence of individual, family, peer, school, and community factors in predicting tobacco smoking.
Abstract
Factors related to smoking were the use of drugs as a coping mechanism (specifically alcohol and marijuana), depression, the availability of cigarettes, poor school performance as measured by grades, the quality of the parent-child relationship, and little time spent in nonsport community clubs. In helping rural adolescent girls avoid or stop smoking, it is apparently important to help them deal constructively with stress and depression. This suggests expanding school-based mental health services in rural areas. Out-of-school options available to rural girls, particularly African-Americans, should be increased in number and convenience, with attention to transportation, and an increase in the number of volunteers. White girls composed 63 percent of the sample, and Black girls constituted 28 percent of the sample. Most variables were measured with the Teen Assessment Project (Small and Rodgers, 1995) or the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Variables measured were smoking frequency, ethnicity, coping mechanism, delinquency, grades, self-esteem, depression, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, alcohol use, marijuana use, involvement in conventional activities, and dieting behavior. 2 tables and 65 references