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· Teen Smoking/Youth
· Tobacco Control
non-USA, by Country
· UK
· UK-Wales
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Children in the schools which ran the programme were 25 per cent less likely to take up regular smoking
Jump to full article: The Independent (uk), 2008-05-09
Author: Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Intro: The most important health warning that parents can give their children - don't smoke - is best delivered by their friends, researchers have found.
Training children who are popular at school to educate their peers about the dangers of smoking could cut the number who take up the habit by more than a fifth, a study showed. If the same technique were used nationwide, the number of children aged 14 and 15 who take up smoking could be cut by 43,000 a year, researchers estimate.
It is unclear whether young people smoke because their friends do or whether those who choose to smoke associate with others who are similarly inclined. What is clear, according to the researchers from the universities of Bristol and Cardiff, is that peer influence can be protective, if it can be effectively harnessed.
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