ATTITUDES OF ADOLESCENTS TOWARD SMOKING CESSATION

We surveyed 375 10th grade students on present behaviors regarding cigarette use and on attitudes concerning smoking cessation. Fourteen percent of students were daily smokers and 7% were occasional smokers. Of the daily smokers, 28% said their most important reason for continued smoking was because they were addicted, and 52% reported two or more prior cessation attempts. When asked the most important reasons for wanting to quit, 70% of occasional smokers and 43% of daily smokers listed health as the most important concern. Only daily smokers (22%) wanted to quit because they thought they were addicted. We conclude that daily smokers among adolescents have many characteristics of adult smokers and that intervention efforts among adolescent smokers may need to be tailored differently for such "adult pattern" smokers as compared to occasional smokers, particularly in regard to addressing the question of smoking as an addictive behavior.