Youth smoking status: perceptions versus measurements.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether youths who have smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days perceive themselves as smokers.


METHODS
Sensitivity and specificity for 3 classifications were analyzed and compared to youths' perceptions of smoking status.


RESULTS
The common criterion of having smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days reflected youths' perceptions of their smoking status with modest accuracy although adding a second criterion of having also smoked 100 or more cigarettes in a lifetime more accurately reflects youths' perceptions of their smoking status.


CONCLUSIONS
Youths frequently determine smoking status based on behavioral criteria that differ from the standard criterion of 30-day point prevalence.
Bottom
Todd L
TL
DePaul University, Center for Community Research, Chicago, IL 60614, USA. tlbottom@yahoo.com
Adams
Monica L
ML
Jason
Leonard A
LA
Topliff
Annie
A