Back To truth News Releases
TEENS EXPOSED TO truth® BELIEVE FEWER OF THEIR PEERS SMOKE
9/4/2007
American Legacy Foundation®-Funded Study Examines Teens’ Perceptions of Peer Smoking
WASHINGTON, D.C. --- New research suggests that truth®, the nation’s largest smoking prevention campaign for youth, may be changing American teens’ perceptions about how common smoking is among their peers. A new study, conducted by RTI International and funded by the American Legacy Foundation, indicates that teens exposed to the truth® campaign have a more accurate view of the number of their peers who smoke. Teens with less exposure to the campaign believed smoking was more common among people their age.
The study, “Association Between National Smoking Prevention Campaigns and Perceived Smoking Prevalence Among Youth in the United States,” appears in the online edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health and will be published in the print edition of the Journal later this year.
This finding is good news for the campaign because teens’ perception of the prevalence of peer smoking has been shown to predict future smoking. “Research suggests that teens’ perceptions of the prevalence of smoking among their peers is highly predictive of future smoking behavior,” said Kevin Davis, an economist at RTI International and the study’s lead author. “Our findings shed light on one of the possible mechanisms through which the truth® campaign may affect behavior and, in general, suggest that messages which create realistic perceptions of smoking can enhance the effectiveness of youth-focused media campaigns.”
The study, which surveyed youths 12 to 17 years of age, found their overall perceptions of how many of their peers smoked dropped during the period of the truth® campaign. Perceived smoking rates decreased from 45 percent in late 1999 and early 2000 to 38 percent in the fall of 2003, consistent with similar declines in actual smoking prevalence over the same period.
The truth® campaign was created by Legacy, a Washington-based public health foundation dedicated to building a world where youth reject tobacco and anyone can quit. The truth® campaign is marketed as a youth brand and delivers facts and messages to teens about tobacco, but avoids giving directive statements telling youths not to smoke. The ads feature risk-taking teens who do not smoke, suggesting that rebellious teens don’t necessarily smoke. Research has indicated that in the first two years of the campaign, 22 percent of the overall decline in youth smoking was directly attributable to truth®.
The study also examined Philip Morris’ Think Don’t Smoke campaign, which took a different advertising approach from the truth® campaign, featuring role model youths stating their reasons for not smoking. The researchers found that there was no association between that effort and perceived prevalence of peer smoking. The study authors suggest the Think Don’t Smoke campaign portrayed ideas consistent with teens’ current expectations— that less rebellious youths are less likely to smoke, and therefore the campaign was unlikely to change their perceptions about smoking.
“This study by RTI reinforces a growing body of research that clearly finds industry-sponsored youth smoking campaigns are not effective in keeping youth from starting to smoke,” said American Legacy Foundation President and CEO Cheryl Healton, Dr. PH. “The truth® campaign consistently uses research from teen audiences, combined with the best marketing and social science thinking to inform our strategies, and this latest study reiterates that that approach is working.”
The American Legacy Foundation® is dedicated to building a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Located in Washington, D.C., the foundation develops programs that address the health effects of tobacco use, especially among vulnerable populations disproportionately affected by the toll of tobacco, through grants, technical assistance and training, partnerships, youth activism, and counter-marketing and grassroots marketing campaigns. The foundation’s programs include truth®, a national youth smoking prevention campaign that has been cited as contributing to significant declines in youth smoking; EX®, an innovative public health program designed to speak to smokers in their own language and change the way they approach quitting; research initiatives exploring the causes, consequences and approaches to reducing tobacco use; and a nationally-renowned program of outreach to priority populations. The American Legacy Foundation was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry. Visit www.americanlegacy.org.
###
Contact: Julia Cartwright, 202-454-5596, jcartwright@americanlegacy.org