Considerable attention has been given to youth (ages 12-18) uptake of smoking in recent years and the associated risk and protective factors. But the early indications of college age and/or young adult (ages 18-24) smoking rates are less documented. Data from recent national surveys suggest that the rate of initiation to smoking among "young adult" populations may be increasing. And, while anecdotally the issue of young adult smoking rates appears to rising in visibility (vis-à-vis significant news media attention), there is not a lot of information on why there is a rise in prevalence. For example: What are the attitudes, behaviors and beliefs of this population? Why does this age group choose to smoke, especially if they resisted as teenagers? What industry marketing techniques are familiar to them? What are the benefits of smoking for them? This presentation will offer participants (1) an overview of the research design and methods for 16 focus groups: 8 groups of college youth (with representation based on gender and race) and 8 groups of non-college (also with racial and gender representation); (2) a concise summary of the results, i.e., attitudes and beliefs of smokers in this age group based on focus groups, current scientific literature, and key informant interviews; (3) an overview of industry marketing tactics in this less known industry niche; (4) some potential interventions -- some with policy objectives-- identified by CDC that can be applied at the state and local level. (5) suggested evaluation methods for these interventions.
Learning Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Keywords: College Students, Tobacco Control
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.