Butt in, butt out: pupils' views on the extent to which staff could and should enforce smoking restrictions

Schools which enforce a no-smoking policy may experience lower rates of pupil smoking. Little is known, however, about how young people view such restrictions and it has been argued that smoking bans might actually encourage adolescent smoking. This paper presents pupils' views on the extent to which staff could, and should, enforce smoking restrictions. Twenty-five single-sex discussion groups were held with 13-year-old pupils who had been purposively selected from two Scottish secondary schools. Both schools served relatively deprived communities and ostensibly had no-smoking policies, but varied in their pupil smoking rates. The pupils' accounts suggested that staff enforcement could interrupt pupil smoking and discourage smoking on school premises, but did not affect whether or not they actually smoked. Pupils viewed staff efforts as ineffective and felt staff did not always have the authority or status needed to enforce a ban. Differences were found between the schools, but these did not explain the variation in their smoking profiles.