The influence of school smoking policies on student tobacco use.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association between smoking behavior among secondary school students and school smoking policies.


METHODS
Cross-sectional provincially representative study.


METHODS
Quebec secondary schools.


METHODS
Complete data were available for 763 of 1058 students aged 13 years in 50 schools and for 768 of 1160 students aged 16 years in 57 schools. School principals provided data on school smoking policies. Main Exposure School smoking policies. Outcome Measure Student tobacco use.


RESULTS
Of students aged 13 years, 3.8% of boys and 7.1% of girls smoked daily; 21.0% of boys and 25.2% of girls aged 16 years smoked daily. Of schools, 28.0% permitted staff to smoke indoors, 84.1% permitted staff to smoke outdoors on school grounds, and 83.2% permitted students to smoke outdoors on school grounds. Daily smoking was not associated with policies targeting student smoking or those targeting indoor smoking by staff. In multilevel analyses, girls aged 13 years were almost 5 times more likely to be daily smokers if they attended schools at which staff were permitted to smoke outdoors.


CONCLUSIONS
Younger girls may be more susceptible to social influences at school related to tobacco use. School policies banning smoking by teachers and other school personnel within and outside the school should be an important component of comprehensive adolescent smoking prevention programs.
Barnett
Tracie A
TA
Centre de Recherche du CHU Sainte-Justine, 3175 Chemin de la Côte- Sainte Catherine, Montréal, Québec, Canada. ta.barnett@umontreal.ca
Gauvin
Lise
L
Lambert
Marie
M
O'Loughlin
Jennifer
J
Paradis
Gilles
G
McGrath
Jennifer J
JJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016134:Organizational Policy; D010379:Peer Group; D011792:Quebec; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D012931:Social Environment; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*