Many Kids Still Don't Think Tobacco Is Addictive

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http://www.healthcentral.com/PrinterFriendly/408/526580.html

Many Kids Still Don't Think Tobacco Is Addictive
It's crucial to stop children from ever smoking, survey suggests.

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- Although most children share a less-than-glowing opinion of smoking, a significant number -- about 25 percent -- believe cigarettes aren't addictive and kicking the habit is easy, a new study suggests.

Such views were part of a range of mixed opinions about smoking that were expressed by a group of 10- to 14-year-old boys and girls before and after participating in a family smoking-prevention program for the better part of two years.

While researchers found that less than 10 percent of the kids entered the program thinking that cigarettes can help people keep off weight or relax, about a quarter said they didn't mind being around smokers and thought smokers could quit anytime they wanted.

In the July/August edition of the American Journal of Health Promotion, the study authors report that the program produced some conflicting results. For example, they found that the most common positive attitude among kids about cigarettes -- that smoking can help you feel more comfortable at parties or other social activities -- actually rose by the program's end, from just under 20 percent to nearly 30 percent.

"Over the 20-month program, about half the children increased their positive attitudes about smoking," said Terry Bush, study lead author and research associate at the Center for Health Studies at Group Health Cooperative (GHC) in Seattle. "This information is coming from somewhere, so we need to think about teachable moments where we as health care providers, parents, youth leaders and teachers can talk about the risks involved."

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[jmm]

1. It's great that they're trying but

if the environments they are going home to are telling them the opposite the program can't do much. Also I have to wonder how well it was run. When I was in junior high we had a health teacher who was dealing with some major issues of her own so any positive our school wanted the class to today backfired wen we were given poor advice by someone who didn't know who to communicate with us.