Susceptibility to smoking among adolescent never smokers
Abstracts
Initial Award Abstract |
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Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of illness and mortality in the United States. The onset of tobacco use generally occurs before age 18; therefore, prevention of smoking initiation among children and adolescents is a powerful strategy for preventing much of the illness and mortality associated with tobacco use. To prevent children and adolescents from becoming smokers, it is important to understand the personal, social and environmental factors that cause them to become curious about smoking. Some children and adolescents are "susceptible" to smoking; that is, they have not expressed a firm commitment not to smoke, so they may be more vulnerable to social and media influences that encourage them to experiment with tobacco. Other children and adolescents are "non-susceptible''—they express a firm commitment not to smoke and may, therefore, be more resilient to pro-smoking messages from media and society. Previous research has shown that the susceptibility concept is useful for predicting which youth will become smokers in the future; susceptible youth are more likely to experiment with tobacco and to become regular smokers than are non-susceptible youth. However, it is not clear what differentiates susceptible youth from non-susceptible youth. The proposed study will examine susceptibility to smoking among adolescents who have not yet tried smoking. We will analyze questionnaire data collected from 8449 California nonsmoking adolescents in grades 5, 8, and 10, as part of an Independent Evaluation of the California Tobacco Control Program, to determine how susceptible and non-susceptible youth differ. This study will examine demographic and smoking-related variables (e.g., exposure to anti smoking programs, tobacco-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors) to determine which of these factors differ between susceptible and non-susceptible youth. We will also examine characteristics of the school environment to determine which types of schools are likely to have large numbers of students susceptible to smoking, and which types of schools are likely to have few susceptible students. The results of this study can be used to develop effective smoking prevention programs that prevent children and adolescents becoming susceptible to smoking. |
Publications
| Attitudes toward anti-tobacco policy among California youth: associations with smoking status, psychosocial variables, and advocacy actions |
| Periodical: Health Education Research |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Rohrbach LA, Cruz TB, Chen X, Johnson CA |
ART |
| Yr: 0 |
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| Measuring exposure to pro- and anti-tobacco media among adolescents: intercorrelations among measures and associations with smoking status |
| Periodical: Journal of Health Communication |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Cruz TB, Schuster D, Flora JA, Johnson CA |
ART |
| Yr: 2001 |
Vol: 6 |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: 11-29 |
| Ethnic differences in adolescent smoking prevalence in California: are multi-ethnic youth at higher risk? |
| Periodical: Tobacco Control |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Palmer PH, Dent CW, Rohrbach LA, Johnson CA |
ART |
| Yr: 2000 |
Vol: 9 |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: ii9-ii14 |
| Peer influences an susceptibility to smoking among adolescents |
| Periodical: Substance Use and Misuse |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Rohrbach LA, Howard-Pitney B, Ritt-Olson A, Mouttapa M |
ART |
| Yr: 0 |
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| Exposure to and perceived usefulness of school-based tobacco prevention programs: associations with susceptibility to smoking among adolescents |
| Periodical: Journal of Adolescent Health |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Huang TTK, Unger JB, Rohrbach LA |
ART |
| Yr: 2000 |
Vol: 27 |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: 248-254 |
| Acculturation as a risk factor for smoking among Latino and Asian-American adolescents: Evidence for mediation by tobacco-related beliefs and social norms |
| Periodical: Health Psychology |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Cruz TB, Chen X, Ribisl K, Rohrbach LA, Johnson CA |
ART |
| Yr: 2000 |
Vol: 19 |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: 403-410 |
| Ethnic variation in peer influences on adolescent smoking |
| Periodical: Nicotine and Tobacco Research |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Rohrbach LA, Cruz TB, et al |
ART |
| Yr: 0 |
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| Why do adolescents overestimate their peers' smoking prevalence? Correlates of prevalence estimates among California 8th grade students. |
| Periodical: Journal of Youth and Adolescence |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Rohrbach LA |
ART |
| Yr: 2002 |
Vol: 31 |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: 147-153 |
| Attitudes toward anti-tobacco policy among California youth: associations with smoking status, psychosocial variables, and advocacy actions |
| Periodical: Health Education Research |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Rohrbach LA, Cruz TB, Chen X, Johnson CA |
ART |
| Yr: 0 |
Vol: |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: |
| Measuring exposure to pro- and anti-tobacco media among adolescents: intercorrelations among measures and associations with smoking status |
| Periodical: Journal of Health Communication |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Cruz TB, Schuster D, Flora JA, Johnson CA |
ART |
| Yr: 2001 |
Vol: 6 |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: 11-29 |
| Ethnic differences in adolescent smoking prevalence in California: are multi-ethnic youth at higher risk? |
| Periodical: Tobacco Control |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Palmer PH, Dent CW, Rohrbach LA, Johnson CA |
ART |
| Yr: 2000 |
Vol: 9 |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: ii9-ii14 |
| Peer influences an susceptibility to smoking among adolescents |
| Periodical: Substance Use and Misuse |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Rohrbach LA, Howard-Pitney B, Ritt-Olson A, Mouttapa M |
ART |
| Yr: 0 |
Vol: |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: |
| Exposure to and perceived usefulness of school-based tobacco prevention programs: associations with susceptibility to smoking among adolescents |
| Periodical: Journal of Adolescent Health |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Huang TTK, Unger JB, Rohrbach LA |
ART |
| Yr: 2000 |
Vol: 27 |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: 248-254 |
| Acculturation as a risk factor for smoking among Latino and Asian-American adolescents: Evidence for mediation by tobacco-related beliefs and social norms |
| Periodical: Health Psychology |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Cruz TB, Chen X, Ribisl K, Rohrbach LA, Johnson CA |
ART |
| Yr: 2000 |
Vol: 19 |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: 403-410 |
| Ethnic variation in peer influences on adolescent smoking |
| Periodical: Nicotine and Tobacco Research |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Rohrbach LA, Cruz TB, et al |
ART |
| Yr: 0 |
Vol: |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: |
| Why do adolescents overestimate their peers' smoking prevalence? Correlates of prevalence estimates among California 8th grade students. |
| Periodical: Journal of Youth and Adolescence |
Index Medicus: |
| Authors: Unger JB, Rohrbach LA |
ART |
| Yr: 2002 |
Vol: 31 |
Nbr: |
Abs: |
Pg: 147-153 |
