Interviews and surveys of 272 Manitoba nursing students yielded 5 themes related to health promotion and tobacco use: identity, central beliefs/attitudes, learning the facts, limited practice options, and role conflict. Students expressed considerable uncertainty about individual autonomy, themselves as role models, and their use of health…

Randomly assigned 1,218 smokers to cells in 4 (nicotine gum delivered ad lib, fixed regimen nicotine gum, placebo gum, no gum) x 3 (self-selected relapse prevention modules, randomly administered modules, no modules) design. Subjects receiving nicotine gum were more likely to be abstinent at 2- and 6-month followups. Fixed regimen accounted for…

Analyzes progress in the fight against the "cigarette epidemic," presents evidence relating smoking to cancer, and provides suggestions for citizen action to curb cigarette-smoking and to prevent children from developing the habit. (LS)

Administered questionnaires to 63 pregnant nullipara to determine factors that may influence their decision to stop smoking following childbirth. Results revealed three factors which contributed equally to explaining variance: perceived self-efficacy, smoking habits during pregnancy, and attitude. Also found significant differences between…

Examines how social conditions can become social problems and argues that there are objective ways of determining the scale of a particular problem. The paper supports its argument through examinations of prohibition, the decline in tobacco consumption, and the war on drugs. (GLR)

Comparison of cardiovascular risk factors (blood lipids, obesity, and smoking) in 329 adults with mental retardation residing in various settings with subjects in the Framingham Offspring Study found that adults with mental retardation had cardiovascular risk profiles similar to those of individuals without mental retardation. (Author/DB)

Examined relationships between drug trafficking (selling and delivering), cigarette and alcohol use, and illicit drug use among African-American adolescents. Found that drug trafficking is equally likely to occur with or without cigarette and alcohol use or illicit drug involvement, suggesting that intervention should extend to drug trafficking in…

Finds that (1) inoculation promotes resistance to smoking onset, but only among adolescents of low self-esteem, precisely those most at risk to smoking initiation in the first place; (2) among this group inoculation contributed to a greater chance of overtly resisting smoking, less positive attitudes toward smoking, and subsequently to less…

Interviews with random samples of 641 registrants for a smoking cessation program on Chicago television news and 2,398 smokers who regularly viewed the news determined that registration was associated with (1) recognition of the need to change behavior; (2) high expectation for quitting; (3) concern about the burden of lung cancer on significant…

Compared the effectiveness of the American Cancer Society's "FreshStart," the American Lung Association's "Freedom from Smoking," and a laboratory smoking cessation clinic. A one-year followup favored the more intensive laboratory and "Freedom from Smoking" clinics over the "FreshStart" method. (FMW)

Discusses the use of transdermal nicotine (TN) in smoking cessation and its value as an effective procedure. The article reveals that, compared to a placebo, TN has double the quit rate percentages, and less than 5% of smokers quit TN due to side effects. (GLR)

Provides an overview of the Start SMART smoking cessation program which combines nicotine withdrawal therapy with behavior modification. The Start SMART program provides seven, intensive one-hour group sessions that are shown to be a most effective intervention with a specific population--motivated, yet highly dependent smokers. (GLR)

Latino youths completed surveys about their knowledge of risk factors for oral cancer and tobacco and alcohol use. Additionally, trained youths attempted to purchase cigarettes from local stores. Respondents were ill-informed about oral cancer. Over half knew risk factors for smoking and alcohol use. Over half of the stores would have sold…

Several competing dynamic models were applied to adolescent substance abuse using a cohort of 3,580 participants in a longitudinal study beginning in grade five. Evidence was found for an intrinsic self-regulating mechanism in adolescent smoking and drinking. Support for a dampened linear oscillator model is discussed. (SLD)

Russian adolescents (N=159) were surveyed at a school near Moscow. Purposes were (1) to explore the relationship of Russian family environment with adolescent substance use and depression; (2) to use cross-national research methods for replicating U.S. studies. Many findings were similar, but others may be unique to Russian youth. (Author/EMK)