Measurement of adolescent smoking behavior: Rationale and methods

✍ Scribed by Terry F. Pechacek; David M. Murray; Russell V. Luepker; Maurice B. Mittelmark; C. Anderson Johnson; James M. Shutz

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 1017 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0160-7715
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00845351

✦ Synopsis

The initiation of cigarette smoking among adolescents is a health problem which has been the subject of discussion and study for many years. The evaluation of strategies to deter the adoption of smoking has long been hampered by the problems of measuring adolescent smoking behavior. Recently, interest has increased in biochemical measures of smoking under the assumption that they are more objective measures. The validity of this assumption is addressed for several ages of adolescents. This paper presents saliva thiocyanate levels, expired air carbon monoxide levels, and smoking self-reports from a sample of 2200 junior and senior highschool students. Interrelationships among the biochemical and behavioral