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Reliability of children's self-reported cigarette smoking
1Stanford University School of Medicine, CA, USA.
Addictive Behaviors
|May 21, 1999
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health
- Behavioral Science
- Public Health
Background:
- Early childhood smoking initiation is a significant risk factor for habitual smoking.
- Reliable data on children's smoking onset is crucial for prevention and intervention research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the reliability of self-reported smoking behaviors in elementary school children.
- To examine the consistency of smoking initiation data across questionnaire items and over time.
Main Methods:
- Utilized longitudinal data from 1,184 elementary school students (ages 8-11).
- Analyzed the consistency of self-reported smoking initiation (ever tried, lifetime use) and grade at first use.
Main Results:
- Children demonstrated high consistency in reporting ever trying cigarettes and lifetime use.
- Reliability decreased for estimating the specific grade of first smoking use.
- Approximately half of the children reliably reported their grade at first smoking use.
Conclusions:
- Standard questionnaire items can yield reliable self-report data on initial smoking behaviors in young children.
- Specific details, like grade at first use, may be less reliably reported by this age group.