Youth Prevention

Research

Early course of nicotine dependence in adolescent smokers
A new study investigating the progress of nicotine dependence in adolescents has found that nondaily tobacco use triggers nicotine dependence, which in turn promotes more frequent smoking. Over the course of four years, data were collected from 1,246 sixth graders through eleven interviews, during which participants were monitored for dependence symptoms. The results show that of the 370 adolescents that had ever smoked, 62% smoked at least once a month, 53% showed signs of nicotine dependence, and 40% escalated to being daily smokers. Monthly smoking was found to be a risk factor for the development of dependence symptoms; the appearance of these symptoms increased the risk for daily smoking. Read the abstract of the study, published in Pediatrics, here.

Adolescent smoking and maternal risk factors
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released a new National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) report titled Adolescent Smoking and Maternal Risk Factors. The report examined maternal smoking and depression as potential risk factors for adolescent cigarette smoking using NSDUH data from 2005-2007. The report shows that the past-month smoking rate was 14.3% among adolescents living with mothers who had a major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year, compared to 7.9% among those whose mothers did not have MDE. Additionally, smoking rates were higher among adolescents whose mothers smoked (16.9%), compared to those whose mothers did not smoke (5.8%). The results suggest that adolescents exposed to parental smoking model the behavior, increasing the risk of adolescent smoking. Click here to read the report.

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Reports

Youth smoking cessation program evaluation toolkit now available
Helping Young Smokers Quit has designed an evaluation toolkit for providers of youth smoking cessation programs. The toolkit will help program administrators do a basic evaluation of their program to figure out the ways it affects the young smokers who participate. This toolkit is the first of its kind and offers easy-to-use evaluation methods, simple step-by-step instructions, automatically generated reports, and suggestions for interpreting results. Helping Young Smokers Quit is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation directed by University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) researchers. Click here for a free download of the new toolkit.

New CDC publication: Youth Engagement Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs User Guide
The CDC Office on Smoking and Health and the Center for Tobacco Policy Research at Washington University in St. Louis are developing a series of user guides for the State and Community Interventions category for the CDC’s Best Practices document. The latest publication in the series focuses on youth engagement and the role youth play in advancing policy as part of a comprehensive tobacco control program. The guide notes that youth perspective and voice is important, because the initiation of tobacco use most often occurs before age 18, and because of heavy targeting of youth by tobacco companies. This guide will provide tobacco control program managers with information on the best practices for engaging youth as a part of a comprehensive program. Click here to download this new publication.

Kansas AG touts success in stopping tobacco sales to minors (KS)
Kansas Attorney General Steve Six has announced the success of Operation Cybersmoke, a two-year project aimed at stopping illegal internet sales of cigarettes. Through the project, undercover sting operations by the Tobacco Enforcement Unit (TEU) have caught 25 websites that sold illegal products in Kansas, 15 of which sold tobacco to minors. Additionally, the TEU used Google advertisements, which appear when a Kansas resident searches the internet for discounted cigarettes, to educate the public on liabilities associated with purchasing cigarettes over the internet. The office is also supporting research into age-verification software for websites selling controlled substances. Read more here.

Many teens mistook smokeless tobacco products for candy (VA)
According to a survey conducted by the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, over one-third of teenagers misidentified a new smokeless tobacco product as candy or gum. Over 1,400 youth and adults were asked to differentiate between package images of several types of new smokeless tobacco products versus regular mints and gums. Among respondents younger than 18, 39% identified Camel Orbs, a dissolvable nicotine lozenge, as mints or gum, and 28% said they would try the product based solely on the packaging. These findings support tobacco-control advocates’ claims that the products too closely resemble candy, therefore increasing the risk of child poisoning by accidental ingestion, use of the products as an alternative to cigarettes, and nicotine addiction. Tobacco companies say these items are clearly tobacco products, and are not intended to be sold to or used by minors. The Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing dissolvable tobacco products. Click here to read more.

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International

One in four young adults has used a hookah (Canada)
Research published in Pediatrics indicates that 23% of young adults interviewed had used a water pipe in the past year. Researchers examined data from the 2007 Nicotine Dependence in Teens Study conducted in Montreal, Canada. Analysis of questionnaires completed by 871 young adults showed that being younger, male, English-speaking, not living with parents, and having a higher household income increased the odds of hookah use. Additionally, participants that used cigarettes or other tobacco products, drank alcohol, or used illicit drugs were more likely to smoke water pipes. The researchers are concerned with the rising prevalence of water pipe smoking, and note that there are popular misconceptions associated with the safety of their use. Click here to read more, or click here to read the study abstract.

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