Preventing Smoking in Multiethnic Communities

John P. Elder, PhD, MPH, FAAHB  

Objective: To examine community-based efforts to prevent tobacco use among adolescents, compared and contrasted to efforts conducted in schools. Methods: Review effective school-based prevention efforts including the Surgeon General's research reports describing broader based community approaches. Results: By reducing illegal sales, making it physically more difficult to purchase and consume tobacco, promoting nonuse and increasing the price of cigarettes via other policy changes, and using aggressive media spots to complement these community changes, we can shift this focus back to the industry and allied political and economic interests. Conclusion: By adopting specific approaches, further reductions in the stubbornly stable adolescent prevalence rates can be realized.

Am J Health Behav 2001;25(3):200-205.