Empowering Youth for Tobacco Control

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Abstract
Purpose.: To investigate common youth group activities and how they relate to young people's attitudes of empowerment around tobacco control. Design.: A mailed survey was administered to 940 Minnesota youth involved in locally organized tobacco prevention groups. By multivariate linear regression, participation in eight tobacco-related activities and selected personal characteristics were examined in relation to youths' perceived influence on youth smoking. Results.: Two activities–developing materials with antismoking messages and taking action to change school smoking policies—were associated with significantly higher perceived influence scores for the youth involved (p < .05). Youth in groups who had worked to raise awareness of how the tobacco industry targets teens also had significantly higher influence scores (p < .001). Associated personal factors included high involvement in extracurricular activities (p < .001), having never experimented with smoking (p < .01), leadership experience (p < .001), and being white (p < .01). Discussion.: Some youth group activities and strategies may be particularly effective at instilling attitudes of empowerment for tobacco control among youth.