Anti-Tobacco Messages From Different Sources Make a Difference With Secondary School Students

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2004

School

Health Professions

Abstract

Mass media campaigns are often effective in reducing tobacco use, but research has typically focused on these campaigns without considering other sources of anti-tobacco information. The present study examined whether the number of sources of anti-tobacco information (family, sports, and other community events, advertisements, and the Internet), made a difference in use and attitudes of high school students. A representative sample of 1,151 students in grades 6 to 12 in one southeastern state were interviewed at school on cell phones provided by researchers. They reported on average 2.49 of the 4 sources of anti-tobacco information. Students who heard anti-tobacco messages from a variety of sources of information were less likely to use tobacco than students who heard anti-tobacco messages from few sources. Never-users, nonsmokers, and relatively younger youth reported more sources than ever-users, smokers, and relatively older youth. Surprisingly, those who reported more sources labeled smokers as attractive more than those who reported fewer sources. Although having a variety of sources of anti-tobacco messages is associated with less tobacco use, an implication of present results is that anti-tobacco information needs to convey the point that using tobacco is ugly.

Publication Title

Journal of Public Health Management and Practice

Volume

10

Issue

6

First Page

513

Last Page

523

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