Empowering youth for tobacco control.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate common youth group activities and how they relate to young people's attitudes of empowerment around tobacco control.


METHODS
A mailed survey was administered to 940 Minnesota youth involved in locally organized tobacco prevention groups. By multivariate linear regression, participation in eight tobacco-related activities and selected personal characteristics were examined in relation to youths'perceived influence on youth smoking.


RESULTS
Two activities--developing materials with antismoking messages and taking action to change school smoking policies--were associated with significantly higher perceived influence scores for the youth involved (p < .05). Youth in groups who had worked to raise awareness of how the tobacco industry targets teens also had significantly higher influence scores (p < .001). Associated personal factors included high involvement in extracurricular activities (p < .001), having never experimented with smoking (p < .01), leadership experience (p < .001), and being white (p < .01).


CONCLUSIONS
Some youth group activities and strategies may be particularly effective at instilling attitudes of empowerment for tobacco control among youth.
Dunn
Caroline L
CL
Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55454, USA. dunn_c@epi.umn.edu
Pirie
Phyllis L
PL
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D016497:Adolescent Health Services; D000367:Age Factors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008910:Minnesota; D011209:Power, Psychological; D016730:Program Development; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000517:prevention & control*