Component analysis in smoking prevention research: effects of social consequences information

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of information about the negative social consequences of cigarette smoking on adolescents' beliefs and intentions to smoke. In contrast to the large-scale, multiple component interventions most commonly conducted, this study compared two brief videotaped messages that contained either social consequences or control information. Fifty-four seventh graders enrolled in health education classes participated. Measures collected immediately after the intervention and at a one month follow-up indicated that the social consequences information successfully altered subjects' smoking-related beliefs. The social consequences information also affected intentions to smoke in the future, but only for subjects who had previously experimented with smoking. Female smokers' intentions to continue smoking were reduced, but the intervention had the opposite effect on male smokers. The discussion addresses the importance of examining the effects of prevention program components on different subsamples of adolescents in small-scale process evaluations.