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

Abstract #71792

E. Lisako Jones-McKyer, PhD, MPH¹, William J. Bailey, MS, MPH¹, Mohammad Rahim Torabi, PhD, MPH², and Swati Raychowdhury, MPH². (1) Indiana Prevention Resource Center, Indiana University, 2735 East 10th Street Room 110, Bloomington, IN 47408, (2) Dept. of Applied Health Science, Indiana University, HPER 116, 1025 E. 7th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405

Recent efforts in youth prevention have focused on “developmental assets” (DA) in the lives of targeted youth. DAs are positive social and environmental factors which influence youth development. In general, higher presence of developmental assets are linked to lower levels of tobacco and other drug use. However, little specific information beyond “presence” or “absence” is available regarding the nature of the relationships among developmental assets and youth smoking. This study clarifies the relationships by examining specific aspects of the relationships among these factors. A secondary data analysis was performed utilizing aggregate data from 31 state-wide communities (N = 26,716 participants). The “Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors” (Search Institutes, 1996) questionnaire was used in the data collection. Discriminant function analysis was used to examine which developmental assets discriminate smoking youth from non-smoking youth, and to examine these relationships by age. Multiple regression techniques and logistic regression were also conducted to examine more specific aspects of the relationships among the developmental assets, youth age, and youth smoking. The utility of all the developmental assets to discriminate youth smoking status was found to be age-dependent. Specific assets were more useful than others, but were also age dependent.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the impact of internal and external assets on youth smoking behaviors
• Identify the types of assets and their respective influence on youth smoking behaviors,
• Identify when particular assets can be most effectively targeted for smoking prevention program planning.

Keywords: Tobacco, Youth

Related Web page: www.drugs.indiana.edu

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.