The impact of antismoking information on teenagers' attitude and intention: implications and challenges for designing antismoking school interventions

Abstract

With the rising popularity of smoking among young people causing social concern, cigarette consumption has been the subject of growing interest among academics, health professionals and public policymakers. The paper examines the effect of antismoking information on teenagers’ attitudes and intention towards smoking. Data are collected from a sample of teenagers via an experimental approach based on a school antismoking intervention programme. The longitudinal research design reveals the relatively short- term effect of the intervention studied, supporting previous research findings about the role of emotion in decisions teenagers make about smoking. Implications and challenges are discussed for designing antismoking school interventions.