Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #114085

Sara K. Vesely, PhD¹, Roy F. Oman, PhD², Cheryl Blalock Aspy, PhD³, Eleni Tolma, MPH PhD⁴, Sharon Rodine, MEd⁵, LaDonna Marshall⁵, and Janene D. Fluhr, MS⁶. (1) Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, PO Box 26901, CHB, Room 309, Oklahoma City, OK 73190, 405-271-2229, sara-vesely@ouhsc.edu, (2) Department of Health Promotion Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, P.O. Box 26901, Rm. 369, Oklahoma City, OK 73190, (3) Family & Preventive Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 900 NE 10th St. - FMC 2209, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, (4) Department of Health Pormotion Sciences, Univeristy of Oklahoma, P.O.Box 26901, Oklahoma City, OK 73190, (5) HEART of OKC Project, Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, 420 N.W. 13th St., #101, Oklahoma City, OK 73103, (6) College of Public Health, Health Promotion Sciences Department, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, P O Box 26901, CHB-369, Oklahoma City, OK 73190

Tobacco use is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality with most smokers beginning before their 18th birthday. Focusing on strengthening youth assets is one strategy for reducing initiation of risk-taking behaviors such as tobacco use. The Youth Asset Study is a current CDC-funded longitudinal study of youth and their parents designed to investigate relationships between assets and risk behaviors. The sample (n=970 youth/parent pairs) had a mean age of 14.4 years, was 52% female, 26% black, 43% white, and 31% Hispanic. Fifteen percent of the youth reported tobacco use in the last 30 days. Tobacco use was reported significantly more often as youth age increased and among youth in one-parent households (19.3%) as compared to youth in two-parent households (12.6%). Individual logistic regression analyses were conducted, controlling for demographic variables, with 9 youth assets as the independent variables and tobacco non-use as the dependent variable. Eight assets (e.g., Family Communication, Aspirations for the Future) were each significantly related (p<.05) to whether or not the youth used tobacco. For example, an odds ratio (OR) of 3.4 was indicated for the Peer Role Models asset indicating that youth with this asset were 3.4 times more likely to not use tobacco as compared to youth without the asset. The other significant assets had ORs ranging from 1.4 to 2.5. The results support research suggesting that assets may have an individual protective effect on the non-use of tobacco. Strengthening assets may be an effective intervention strategy for reducing tobacco use in youth.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify specific youth assets associated with a reduction in youth tobacco use.
• Articulate possible contributions that the Youth Asset Study will make to the practice of preventing youth tobacco use.

Keywords: Tobacco, Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation