Elsevier

Preventive Medicine

Volume 24, Issue 5, September 1995, Pages 454-460
Preventive Medicine

Special Issue Article
Tobacco Use: Baseline Results from Pathways to Health, a School-Based Project for Southwestern American-Indian Youth

https://doi.org/10.1006/pmed.1995.1073Get rights and content

Abstract

Background. This paper describes a school-based cancer prevention project for fifth- and seventh-grade Navajo and Pueblo Indian children living in the South-west. Baseline data are presented from 714 students who completed questionnaires on smoking and smokeless tobacco. Methods. Questionnaires were administered in the fifth- and seventh-grade classrooms prior to students receiving the Pathways to Health cancer prevention curriculum. Results. In our sample there were increases from fifth to seventh grade in self-reported current cigarette use and intention to use. Also, boys were more likely to use and intend to use cigarettes than girls. The use of smokeless tobacco also increased with increasing grade level, though this trend was less pronounced for girls. A significant gender difference was found in the use of smokeless tobacco with boys reporting higher use. However, reported use by girls was higher than is typically noted for non-Hispanic white girls. Conclusions. There is evidence of experimentation and regular use of tobacco products by both Navajo and Pueblo boys and girls. Even more students indicate intention to use tobacco products in the future. These data confirm the need for primary prevention programs designed for this population of American Indians.

References (0)

Cited by (20)

  • Youth Acquisition and Situational Use of Cigars, Cigarillos, and Little Cigars:: A Cross-sectional Study

    2017, American Journal of Preventive Medicine
    Citation Excerpt :

    Policy and education interventions for tobacco prevention and cessation among youth have been largely focused on how adolescents get tobacco and the situations in which cigarettes are used.16 Research demonstrating high rates of youth cigarette initiation and continued use in social situations contributed to the inclusion of refusal skills in smoking prevention curricula17–25 and family-based programs.26 Increased understanding of the life situation of youth tobacco users led to development of alternative coping skills in other smoking prevention and cessation programs.19

  • Assessing food selection in a health promotion program: Validation of a brief instrument for American Indian children in the Southwest United States

    2000, Journal of the American Dietetic Association
    Citation Excerpt :

    In spring 1992,120 randomly selected students from 9 schools completed the YFC and 24-hour dietary recall. Subjects were from elementary and middle schools that had agreed to participate in Pathways to Health, a classroom cancer prevention program for American Indian students in the Southwest (14,30). Subjects were representative of the students that were to receive the full curriculum in fall 1992.

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text