The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #67968

Randy J. Cooper, PhD, Department of Health, Safety and Environmental Health Sciences, Indiana State University, Arena B-73, Terre Haute, IN 47809, 812-237-3072, hscooper@scifac.indstate.edu and Fred L. Peterson, PhD, Child, Adolescent, and School Health, The University of Texas at Austin, 2100 San Jacinto Blvd, Bellmont Hall 222, Austin, TX 78712.

Youth tobacco use continues to be a major public health concern. The purpose of this study included two main goals: (1) examine the role of adolescents’ perceived social support from family, peers, and the characteristics of their immediate peer group and their risk relationship to a specific problem behavior such as tobacco use, and (2) the development of a school support construct that could be validated and tested within an established theoretical model relating to adolescent risk-taking. The study design utilized Irwin and Millstein’s Causal Model of Adolescent Risk-Taking Behavior (1986) to provide a theoretical model for examining possible social relationships between adolescents’ perceived family and peer support and a specific risk-taking behavior. A secondary analysis was performed using the public use data set (n=6,504) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Udry, 1998). Three scales were constructed for Family, School, and Peer Support with alpha levels of .90, .80, and .80 respectively. Relative risk estimates were calculated to determine strength of association with each of the social support scales and a dependent variable of tobacco use. Preliminary results suggest that adolescents’ perceived School Support does have comparable relative risk statistics to family and peer support constructs. Furthermore, there were significant differences with the social support scales when controlling for grade and gender factors. Overall, the results suggest that multidimensional interventions that include family and/ or peer applications may also benefit from the inclusion of school support components.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify specific items related to adolescents' perceived school support.
• Recognize the association of family, peer, and school support to youth tobacco use from a developmental perspective.
• Apply theory in the design of creating effective tobacco prevention programs that target youth.

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Risk Taking Behavior

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.