|
Abstract
|
Recent efforts to reduce tobacco use among minors have included the introduction and/or refinement of laws which make the purchase, possession, and/or use of tobacco illegal. The objective of this study was to determine the impact that being cited for tobacco possession and a subsequent court appearance had on tobacco attitudes and behaviors among a sample of teens attending a teen tobacco court (TTC) in South Florida.
Two waves of data were obtained during the first several months of 1999. The time one (T-1) sample included 402 teen offenders who completed questionnaires at the time of their TTC appearance. The time two (T-2) follow-up sample included 210 individuals who were interviewed at T-1. The T-2 interviews were conducted by telephone approximately two months after the T-1 interviews.
At T-1, 28.4% of the sample indicated that they used less tobacco than they did prior to their citation and 15.5% reported that they had not used tobacco since being cited. Significantly larger percentages of younger smokers reported less use and no use after the citation than the older teens. At T-2, 29.3% of the sample reported less tobacco use following TTC than prior to it; and 27.8% indicated that they had not used tobacco since. There were no significant differences in the T-2 tobacco use patterns among gender, ethnic, age and educational groups.
Findings indicated that being ticketed and appearing in TTC had significant short-term impacts on a very large percentage of those in the two samples. Additional follow-up studies need to be conducted to determine if the changes following citation and court processes persisted. Follow-up studies should also explore how factors other than the citation or court appearances influenced tobacco use. (Abstract Adapted from Source: Adolescent & Family Health, 2000. Copyright © 2000 by the Institute for Youth Development)
Florida
Teen Court
Tobacco Use Intervention
Juvenile Substance Use
Substance Use Intervention
Justice System Intervention
Justice System Program
Intervention Program
04-02 |