Teens who feel that they can be effective anti-smoking spokespeople in their communities are less likely to be smokers themselves, according to a new survey of Texas high school students.
Students who had never smoked were the most likely to think that they could be good advocates for anti-smoking policies and that their efforts would make a difference in the community, say Amelie Ramirez of the Baylor College of Medicine and colleagues.
The study will be published in the August issue of the journal Health Education and Behavior.
Among those surveyed, black students were most likely to believe they could be good advocates for policies such as clean air laws, tobacco taxes and bans on tobacco advertising. Latino and white students were the least likely to think they could do things like write letters and collect petition signatures to support anti-smoking measures.
Ramirez says the study "suggests that feeling empowered to take action on behalf of tobacco control policies is related to remaining smoke-free."
Among the 9,177 students surveyed, smoking rates were highest among Latino and white teens. Nearly 20 percent of Latina girls, 25 percent of white girls and 30 percent of Latino and white boys said they were current smokers.
White students surveyed didn't always approve of tobacco control measures such as raising cigarette prices, "but they still felt capable of taking action to transform the system," Ramirez said. However, white students were also the least likely to believe their advocacy would change anything, she adds.
Latino students were the least likely to think they could advocate for tobacco laws and were skeptical that their advocacy would change policy, the researchers found. By contrast, black students were generally supportive of tobacco control policies, confident in their advocacy abilities and confident that their actions would make a difference.
"The favorable complex of attitudes and expectations of African-Americans and, to some extent, Asians is encouraging and bodes well for these communities," Ramirez said.