Sources of information on the health effects of environmental tobacco smoke among African-American children and adolescents

Purpose: To determine the common sources of information regarding the effec ts of smoking on health and their relationship to knowledge, attitudes, and preventative efforts regarding exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ET S) among urban African-American children and adolescents. Methods: All students who were enrolled in Grades 5-12 in an urban public s chool district located in the greater metropolitan area of Detroit, Michiga n were surveyed using a structured, written questionnaire that assessed sou rces of information on the health effects of smoking, as well as knowledge, attitudes, and preventive efforts with respect to exposure to ETS. The pri mary analytic procedures utilized in the study were correlation analysis an d analysis of variance. Results: The African-American students surveyed in this study received info rmation regarding the health effects of smoking from many sources, most not ably television, family, and teachers. Second, students who received inform ation on the effects of smoking on health from family and external sources (teacher, parent's friend, and religious leader) had higher overall knowled ge, attitude, and preventive efforts scores than students who received info rmation from other sources (friends, electronic media, and printed media). Finally, family influence was greater when parents were not smokers, and in fluenced elementary students more than middle school or high school student s. Conclusions: The active involvement of teachers, religious leaders, parents , and other influential adults should be elicited in tobacco education and prevention efforts to maximize their effectiveness. (C) Society for Adolesc ent Medicine, 2001.