Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Evaluation of a School and Peer Based Anti-Smoking Program Targeting Southwest Louisiana Grade School Students

Evaluation of a School and Peer Based Anti-Smoking Program Targeting Southwest Louisiana Grade... Evidence suggests that anti-smoking programs that target school-aged children can be effective and that they can assist in reducing tobacco use among peers. This article presents an evaluation of a peer and school based mentoring program offered by Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southwest Louisiana in conjunction with local elementary schools. The program matches high school mentors with elementary school children believed to be at a high risk for smoking, as well as for alcohol and drug abuse. The results of the evaluation were mixed. Teachers and mentors praised the program. Participation in the program was also associated with a reduction in peer use of alcohol and tobacco. However, there was no significant difference between experimental and control groups with respect to how the grade school subjects recognized the harm that alcohol can produce for children. Further, there was no significant difference in how experimental and control groups viewed the damage to children that could be done by a combination of alcohol, tobacco, and street drugs. The mixed results demonstrate the program's promise and its potential usefulness as a strategy to prevent teen smoking. At the same time, the results underscore the complex interplay of factors that may contribute to the success or failure of such innovative programs. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Applied Sociology SAGE

Evaluation of a School and Peer Based Anti-Smoking Program Targeting Southwest Louisiana Grade School Students

Campbell, Carol; Weeber, Stan
Journal of Applied Sociology , Volume os-22 (2): 14 – Sep 1, 2005
Download PDF
14 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/evaluation-of-a-school-and-peer-based-anti-smoking-program-targeting-pHbk4Upd9c
Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 2005 Association for Applied Social Science
ISSN
0749-0232
eISSN
1937-0245
DOI
10.1177/19367244052200206
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Evidence suggests that anti-smoking programs that target school-aged children can be effective and that they can assist in reducing tobacco use among peers. This article presents an evaluation of a peer and school based mentoring program offered by Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southwest Louisiana in conjunction with local elementary schools. The program matches high school mentors with elementary school children believed to be at a high risk for smoking, as well as for alcohol and drug abuse. The results of the evaluation were mixed. Teachers and mentors praised the program. Participation in the program was also associated with a reduction in peer use of alcohol and tobacco. However, there was no significant difference between experimental and control groups with respect to how the grade school subjects recognized the harm that alcohol can produce for children. Further, there was no significant difference in how experimental and control groups viewed the damage to children that could be done by a combination of alcohol, tobacco, and street drugs. The mixed results demonstrate the program's promise and its potential usefulness as a strategy to prevent teen smoking. At the same time, the results underscore the complex interplay of factors that may contribute to the success or failure of such innovative programs.

Journal

Journal of Applied Sociology – SAGE

Published: Sep 1, 2005

There are no references for this article.