Social influences approach to smoking prevention: the effects of videotape delivery with and without same-age peer leader participation

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that cigarette smoking adoption among adolescents could be suppressed by providing school-based videotape instruction for resisting social influences to smoke. The utilization of same-age peer leaders was also varied to test whether their participation in the classroom would enhance program effects. Seventh grade students (N = 540) from one junior high school in Southern California were randomly assigned by classrooms (N = 15) to: (a) videotape instruction, (b) videotape instruction plus peer leader involvement, or (c) survey-only. Seventh grade students (N = 234) in a second junior high school served as a measurement-only control. Assessments were conducted at the beginning and end of the academic year. Results revealed a marked suppression in the onset of both experimental and regular smoking among those students exposed to the pressure resistance training with peer leader involvement. Pressure resistance training without peer leader involvement produced a more variable and less powerful effect on students' smoking behavior. Data collected on students' use of alcohol and marijuana revealed a generalized suppression effect, albeit weaker than for tobacco, among those students exposed to the social resistance training with peer leader involvement. Results provide further encouraging support for the use of peer-led pressure resistance training in preventing adolescent drug use.