Mass media for smoking cessation in adolescents.
Theory-driven, mass media interventions prevent smoking among youth. This study examined effects of a media campaign on adolescent smoking cessation. Four matched pairs of media markets in four states were randomized to receive or not receive a 3-year television/radio campaign aimed at adolescent smoking cessation based on social cognitive theory. The authors enrolled 2,030 adolescent smokers into the cohort (n = 987 experimental; n = 1,043 comparison) and assessed them via annual telephone surveys for 3 years. Although the condition by time interaction was not significant, the proportion of adolescents smoking in the past month was significantly lower in the experimental than comparison condition at 3-year follow-up when adjusted for baseline smoking status. The media campaign did not impact targeted mediating variables. A media campaign based on social cognitive constructs produced a modest overall effect on smoking prevalence among adolescents, but the role of theory-based constructs is unclear.
Solomon
Laura J
LJ
Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405-0134, USA. laura.solomon@uvm.edu
Bunn
Janice Y
JY
Flynn
Brian S
BS
Pirie
Phyllis L
PL
Worden
John K
JK
Ashikaga
Takamaru
T
D000293:Adolescent; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006293:Health Promotion; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007899:Leisure Activities; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D009043:Motor Activity; D011845:Radio; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013690:Television