Youth Prevention

Research

Media literacy education for elementary school substance use prevention
A randomized controlled trial published in Pediatrics suggests that the Media Detective media literacy program is an effective method of substance abuse prevention in elementary school aged children. The Media Detective program is designed to develop children’s critical thinking skills about media messages in order to reduce intent to use tobacco and alcohol. A total of 344 elementary schools received the Media Detective program, with 335 schools wait-listed for the program used as the control group. Post-intervention, boys in the test group reported less interest in alcohol-related merchandise than boys in the control group. Students in the test group that had used tobacco or alcohol in the past reported less intention to do so in the future, and had more self-efficacy to refuse these substances than their counterparts in the control group. This study shows that interventions that are based in media literacy can be effective in helping elementary school aged children make better decisions about tobacco and alcohol use. Click here to read more.

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Reports

Media leading ‘drug educator’ for kids, doctors say
The American Academy of Pediatrics has released a new policy statement recommending several actions to reduce youth exposure to media containing tobacco, alcohol and substance abuse content or imagery. The policy statement discusses the power that advertising and media have on influencing children’s and adolescents’ substance use, especially tobacco and alcohol, as well as the mixed messages presented by substance abuse prevention programs and the media. The recommendations include: banning tobacco advertising in all types of media; limiting alcohol advertising; preventing children’s exposure to substance-related content in television and PG-13 and R-rated movies; incorporating media literacy into substance abuse prevention programs; and bringing media education programs to the classroom. Click here to read more, or click here to read the full statement, “Policy statement: Children, adolescents, substance abuse, and the media” from the journal Pediatrics.

Making the case for a comprehensive tobacco-free schools policy
The National School Boards Association’s National Consortium for Tobacco Use Prevention through Schools has made available the recording and slides from its August 24, 2010 webinar. The webinar addresses the components of comprehensive tobacco-free school policies, why school districts need them, and how to overcome barriers to implementing them. The webinar was presented by the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Foundation, the Indiana School Boards Association and the National School Boards Association. Click here to access the webinar materials.

Dancing to the groove of truth®
The largest youth tobacco prevention campaign in the country, truth®, has partnered with MTV Games on a new initiative that will highlight tobacco-related facts in connection with the video game Dance Central. Dance Central is being released for the Kinect for the Xbox 360® system on November 4, and is the first controller-free, body tracking, fully immersive dance video game. The partnership will include an online dance contest, grassroots tour stops, and online outreach. Each element of the campaign will drive teens to the online dance contest, in which teens can upload videos of themselves dancing, share their videos with friends, vote for their favorite dance video, and win prizes. Integrating truth’s messaging into gaming, a popular form of entertainment for teens, is a way to intersect with the everyday lives of truth’s primary audience of youth ages 12 to 17. Click here for more details.

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International

Overestimation of peer smoking prevalence predicts smoking initiation among primary school students in Hong Kong (China)
Research published in the Journal of Adolescent Health indicates that overestimation of the prevalence of peer smoking may predict smoking initiation among young children in Hong Kong. Investigators surveyed 2,171 second to fourth grade students regarding their perceptions of peer smoking and their smoking history annually for three years. They found that at baseline, overestimation of peer smoking prevalence was associated with smoking, and at follow-up, 7.2% of never-smoking students that overestimated prevalence had initiated smoking, compared to 3.7% initiation among those that did not overestimate peer smoking prevalence. Also, never-smoking students that overestimated at baseline but not at follow-up were at 70% decreased risk of smoking initiation than those that continued to overestimate smoking among their peers. These results indicate that interventions that adjust overestimations of peer smoking may be useful in reducing smoking initiation. Click here to read the study abstract.

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