Cancer knowledge and attitudes of African-American and white adolescents: a comparison of two secondary schools

A cancer knowledge and attitude survey was administered to 385 students 12 to 18 years of age. Half attended a predominantly African-American academic high school and the other half, a predominantly white college preparatory school. Both schools were in Washington, DC. Responses were analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov two-sample test. African-American students more often than white students understood the words leukemia and malignancy to mean cancer; identified breast self-examination as a method for early cancer detection; and recognized chemotherapy as effective cancer treatment. White students more often than African-American students responded correctly that cancer is less common in children than in adults; cancer is often curable; and research has benefited cancer outcome. Although both groups of students had good knowledge, the African-American adolescents appeared to have a pessimistic attitude, which may contribute to "delay behavior," suboptimal compliance, and poor survival. Cancer education should help to counteract this attitude, however. It is also encouraging that the African-American adolescents were more interested than the white students in further cancer education.