4-29-04
BEHREND RESEARCHERS EXAMINE
CHILDREN'S POTENTIAL TO SMOKE
Using the results of a survey administered to students in fifth and eighth grades in four area school districts, researchers at Penn State Behrend have found that the public service announcement used in the study definitely made a difference in reducing a child's likelihood to smoke.
They also found that the best predictor of a child's probability to smoke was having a peer or peers who smoked. Even more revealing, students whose parents smoked were much more likely to feel comfortable having friends who smoked.
The survey was developed by three Penn State Behrend professors: Peg Thoms, associate professor of management; Phylis Mansfield, assistant professor of marketing; and Charisse Nixon, assistant professor of developmental psychology. Their work was funded through the Erie County Department of Health using Pennsylvania's share of the tobacco settlement fund.
"We administered the survey to fifth- and eighth-grade students in Harborcreek, Girard, and Union City school districts as well as fifth graders at Tracy Elementary School in the Millcreek School District," said Thoms. "We believe that we are the first to unveil the connections between parental smoking and students' choice of friends who smoke."
The trio of researchers also learned that children are more likely to smoke if they demonstrate impulsive personalities.
The results of the survey were unveiled at a recent meeting of the researchers, school district representatives, and Erie County Department of Health officials at Penn State Behrend. A written report on the research results is available by contacting the Black School of Business at 814-898-6107 or by contacting the Erie County Department of Health at 814-451-6700.
814-898-6063 (O)
E-mail: lzb6@psu.edu