TOBACCO-REFUSAL SKILLS AND TOBACCO USE AMONG HIGH-RISK ADOLESCENTS

Psychosocial tobacco use prevention programs are based on the assumpti on that refusal skills training will have a suppressive effect on the onset of use by enabling non-using adolescents to refuse offers of cig arettes and smokeless tobacco. The present study investigated this ass umption with 389 high-risk junior high-school students involved in a p revention program during their seventh, eighth, and ninth-grade years. Direct behavioral measures of refusal skills were taken by having sub jects respond to audiotaped offers of tobacco and then rating the qual ity of their responses. These ratings were then linked to tobacco use measures obtained at the end of each of the 3 study years. Results sho wed that the comprehensive prevention program produced a favorable tre nd in delaying or preventing the onset of tobacco use. However, the re fusal skills training, which was carried out throughout the 3-year int ervention period, produced significant differences in overall refusal skill quality only at the seventh grade. Moreover, refusal skill quali ty was not related to overall tobacco use or cigarette use at any grad e.