Study Helps Curb Preteen Smoking

SPREAD THE WORD-Dr. Alfred McAlister of the UT-Houston School of Public Health is interviewed about preteen smoking. Dr. McAlister says children who view anti-tobacco media campaigns and who are exposed to school programs that teach the dangers of tobacco are better equipped to handle peer pressure. (Photos by Linda Barth)

How do you convince middle school-aged children that smoking isn't "cool"? That's the question researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston explored as part of a collaborative pilot project studying the impact of anti-tobacco advertising campaigns and school-based programs in preventing tobacco use by preteens.

As part of the Texas Tobacco Prevention Initiative sponsored by the Texas Department of Health, researchers at the UT-Houston School of Public Health and Baylor College of Medicine conducted surveys involving middle and high school students in East Texas, including students at Sharpstown Middle School in Houston, Macario Garcia Middle School in Fort Bend County and Edison Middle School in Port Arthur.

SMOKING ISN'T COOL-Melvin Nelson, 14 (left) and John Rivas, 14, of Edison Middle School in Port Arthur, participated in an anti-tobacco pilot project designed to discourage preteens from smoking.

In the study, students participated in either no media campaigns, low-level media campaigns or high-level media campaigns, combined with either community- or school-based anti-tobacco programs.

"Our first step was to look at tobacco use in these communities before starting the project," said Dr. Alfred L. McAlister, professor of behavioral sciences at UT-Houston School of Public Health's Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research. "After the study, we found that tobacco use dropped significantly among children in some of the pilot project areas."

The study showed a dramatic decrease in tobacco use. The average rate of tobacco use in the follow-up survey was nearly 40 percent lower among children who were involved in both the advertising campaign and school- and community-based prevention programs than among students who were not involved in the combined activities.

The multimedia campaign launched by the TDH last year, which featured a cartoon duck and the slogan "Tobacco is Foul," apparently changed the students' attitudes toward tobacco use, said Dr. McAlister, while the school-based programs reinforced their newfound disdain for tobacco.

WHY A DUCK?-This fowl is successfully convincing middle-school children that "tobacco is foul." For more information, go to http://www.ducktexas.com.

"The more duck ads the students saw on television, the less likely they thought tobacco use was `cool'," Dr. McAlister said. "The school programs taught the students how to say `no' to smoking."

Dr. McAlister said that although the advertising campaign influenced the students' attitudes about tobacco use, the students who also participated in school-based programs were more apt to resist smoking.

"When compared to other students, the middle school students who participated in the school programs were more able to resist peer pressure toward smoking," Dr. McAlister said. "This study proves that using two kinds of prevention processes involving media campaigns and school-based programs can have a big impact on tobacco use."

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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