NCJ Number
222132
Journal
Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse Volume: 17 Issue: 2 Dated: 2007 Pages: 1-14
Date Published
2007
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study compared adolescent smokers' and nonsmokers' attitudes toward tobacco control laws and their effectiveness.
Abstract
The study found that nonsmokers were more likely than smokers to believe that tobacco control laws are effective and to indicate support for tobacco possession and tobacco sales laws that aim to prevent minors from using tobacco. Adolescents who had never smoked were more supportive of tobacco control laws than adolescents in any other designated smoking category ("prior," "current," or "daily"), possibly because such laws reinforced their decision not to smoke. Grade in school was also significantly related to youth attitudes toward tobacco control laws. Students in lower grades were more supportive of the efficacy of tobacco control laws and tobacco possession laws. Not only was there a decrease in support for such laws once youth reached higher grades, but there were significant decreases in support with each advance in grade level. This confirms the view that throughout adolescence, youth are likely to become less positive toward rules they view as efforts by adults and society to control the behavior of youth. This study's findings provide additional input for those who design programs for youth that are intended to prevent tobacco use. The current study was part of a larger project, the Youth Tobacco Access Project, which involved 24 towns in Illinois randomly assigned to a treatment or an enhanced treatment condition. The current study included 9,097 students from 41 middle and high schools. Data were obtained from the Youth Tobacco Access Project's Student Survey. Students completed the survey at school during the months of March, April, and May of 2001. 3 tables and 28 references