Effects of thirty-four adolescent tobacco use cessation and prevention trials on regular users of tobacco products

Since 1991, adolescent tobacco use rates have increased while adult use has steadily decreased. The failure of adolescent tobacco use cessation and pr evention programs to reduce this overall smoking rate indicates that resear ch must be advanced in this area. As a start, the current status of cessati on and prevention research that targets adolescent regular tobacco users sh ould be stated. This paper contributes to that goal by reviewing the last t wo and a half decades of research in this area. A total of 34 programs, equ ally divided between cessation and prevention (targeting regular tobacco us ers), are presented and relevant data are provided for each. Among the cess ation studies, an emphasis of programming on immediate consequences of use, and instruction in coping strategies, may have led to relatively successfu l programs. Prevention studies arguably may have achieved lower success rat es but were applied to a larger sample with a longer follow-up period. Desp ite showing some success. it is apparent that the scientific status of cess ation research is less refined than prevention research. More research is n eeded to define the most successful approaches for cessation of adolescent tobacco use.