Learning Objectives: Identify important themes key for developing effective tobacco control policy for youth in an African America community.
Abstract:
There is some debate among health advocates about the efficacy of tobacco control policy and it's ability to change adolescent smoking behavior. Some advocates contend that existing public policy is ineffective and has not succeeded in reducing teen smoking rates. The overall goal of this project was to examine the potential changes in attitudes, perceptions and smoking behaviors of youth in response to current and pending tobacco control policies. Focus group discussions were facilitated to explore how adolescent smokers felt about current policies and how they responded to them. A total of 9 focus groups were conducted with 52 adolescents, ages 13 to 18 years. A combination of mixed and gender-specific groups, were formed from a predominantly African American sample of youth. Topics discussed in focus groups included: 1) tobacco control though cigarettes price increase, 2) key components of an effective anti-tobacco messages, 3) cigarette ingredients as an attitudinal influence, 4) components of an effective surgeon's general warning, 5) effective use of warning labels and 6) tobacco control through policy enforcement.
Results: Teens reacted to price increase, indicating that a substantial price increase would lead to a change in their methods of procuring cigarettes. Teens reacted strongly to the idea of enforcement, indicating that this strategy would be effective, but would only change when or when they smoked. Teens also expressed a strong resentment towards the tobacco industry upon learning the ingredients in cigarettes. Most teens thought policies would be more effective in the protection of younger kids.
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