Experimentation with smokeless tobacco and cigarettes by children and adolescents: relationship to beliefs, peer use, and parental use.

Abstract

Experimentation with both cigarettes and smokeless tobacco by children in grades 3-12 in a school district in Pennsylvania was related to peer experimentation, parental use. and personal beliefs about the harm of the product for both males and females. Experimentation with both products had begun as early as the third grade and increased with age, with a major increase in experimentation during junior high school. Nearly half the males in grades 7-12 did not believe smokeless tobacco was harmful. (Am J Puiblic Health

Enabling Parents Who Smoke to Prevent Their Children From Initiating Smoking

“…2006;160:56-62 A LTHOUGH THE UPPER LIMIT of the age range used to define early initiation of smoking has varied across studies, [1][2][3][4][5][6] there is consensus that youth who first try smoking by age 12 years are early initiators. A comparison of prevalence estimates across studies [3][4][5][6] indicates that about 10% of 8-year-old (third grade) children, 18% to 24% of 10-year-old (fifth-grade) children, and 35% to 40% of 12-year-old (seventhgrade) children have tried smoking.…”

Incidence and predictors of smokeless tobacco use among US youth.

“…It is likely that a number of personal, social, and environmental factors are involved in the decision to try smokeless tobacco products and in the progression to regular use and nicotine addiction. Some studies have examined concurrent correlates of smokeless tobacco use in young people [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] or longitudinal predictors of use in selected geographic regions, [19][20][21][22] but no prospective studies have been reported among a US national sample of young people.…”

“…25 The selection of potential predictor variables and covariates for experimentation with and regular use of smokeless tobacco was largely guided by previous cross-sectional and prospective studies. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] These variables, measured at the baseline survey, included (1) sociodemographic factors (age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geographic region, population density, and number of parents in the household); (2) …”

Oral spit tobacco: addiction, prevention and treatment

“…Social factors that seem to be very strongly related to the use of ST include modeling and acceptance of use, e.g. peers or fi'iends that use ST or smoke cigarettes, parental use, and acceptance or perceived approval of use (Ary et al, 1989;Bonaguro, Pugh, & Bonagnro, 1986;Boyle, Claxton, & Forster, 1997;Chassin et al, 1985;Cohen, Sattler, Felix, & Brownell, 1987;deMoor et al, 1994;Dent et al, 1987;Gottlieb et aI., 1993;Gritz, Ksir, & McCarthy, 1985;Hill et al, 1992;Lisnerski et aI., 1991;Marty et al, 1986;Riley et al, 1990;Riley et at., 1991;Riley et at., 1989;Salehi & Elder, 1995;Williams, Guyton, Marry, McDermott, & Young, 1986). The extent of these influences may be a function of age.…”