title: Reported willingness among adolescent nonsmokers to help parents, peers, and others to stop smoking.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study of 1025 adolescent nonsmokers aged 11-19 years examined level of interest and factors associated with reported willingness to help someone stop smoking.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected from a survey distributed primarily in the schools at four geographic and ethnically diverse study sites.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 692 adolescents identified someone close to them who smokes whom they thought should quit. Of these, 90% reported that they would be willing to help this person stop smoking. Multivariate predictors of willingness to help were female gender, less difficulty reading English, and greater level of comfort with talking to the smoker about their smoking. The smoker that the adolescents were willing to help was most often a parent or same age friend.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  If this strong interest among adolescents could be tapped, engaging teens as support persons could be a novel public health approach to reaching parents, adolescents, and other smokers in the population.
authors.affiliation: Nicotine Dependence Center Research Program, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. patten.christi@mayo.edu
authors.forename: Christi A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Patten
authors.forename: Keila
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.forename: Janet L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Kenneth P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Offord
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Decker
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pingree
authors.forename: Ellen A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Dornelas
authors.forename: Jasjit S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ahluwalia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007615:Kansas; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D010379:Peer Group; D016540:Smoking Cessation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires