Texas Tobacco Prevention Pilot Initiative: processes and effects

The study was designed to examine how intensity of anti-smokingmedia campaigns and differing types of anti-smoking community-basedprograms influence young adolescents' tobacco use and relatedpsychosocial variables. Sixth grade students attending 11 middleschools in eight study communities assigned to varying interventionconditions were assessed by a pre-intervention survey conductedin spring 2000. The assessment was followed by summer and fall2000 media and community interventions that were evaluated bypost-intervention data collection taking place with a new cohortof sixth graders in the same 11 schools in late fall 2000. Inanalyses conducted at the school level, the enhanced schooland comprehensive community program conditions outperformedthe no intervention program condition to reduce tobacco useand intentions to use tobacco. Combining the intensive or lowmedia campaign with the comprehensive community program wasmost effective in suppressing positive attitudes toward smoking,while the enhanced school program alone was less effective ininfluencing attitudes. The most consistent changes, at leastshort-term, to reduce teen tobacco use, susceptibility to smokingand pro-smoking attitudes were achieved by combining the intensivemedia campaign with the comprehensive community program condition.