A comparison of smoking related attitudes and behaviors among Kentucky public school children whose families are and are not involved in tobacco production.
School health education has an important role to play in discouraging teenage smoking. However, it is likely that government, the general public and students themselves will be less favorable toward smoking education in major tobacco-producing states. To determine whether students whose families are involved in tobacco production hold more favorable attitudes toward smoking and smoke more than children whose families are not involved, 1,322 Kentucky public school students in grades five-12 were surveyed regarding smoking attitudes and behavior. Twenty-one percent (276) of the students reported that their families were involved in tobacco production. Tobacco family students held more favorable attitudes toward smoking and a larger percentage of these children smoked and smoked more than their nontobacco family peers. These differences were statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Tobacco family children appear to be at high risk for smoking-related disease and may prove resistant to some antismoking messages. Developing effective smoking education programs in major tobacco states in an important challenge for school health education.
D000293:Adolescent; D000383:Agriculture; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007629:Kentucky; D008297:Male; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014026:Nicotiana