Teenage Attitudes and Behavior Concerning Tobacco, June-July 1992: [United States] (ICPSR 6252)

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This nationwide survey polled teenagers regarding their attitudes and behavior concerning tobacco. Respondents were asked if they thought various tobacco products were dangerous, if they felt pressure from friends to smoke cigarettes, if anyone in their household used tobacco, if they would be more or less likely to like or date someone who smoked, and if they themselves smoked cigarettes or cigars or used chewing tobacco or snuff. To investigate exposure to tobacco advertising, respondents were asked if they had received free samples of tobacco products or promotional items for tobacco products (e.g., caps, T-shirts, sunglasses, posters), if they were familiar with various cigarette advertising slogans, and which brands of cigarettes they had seen advertised in recent months. The survey probed beliefs about the dangers to health caused by tobacco use and asked respondents if they favored implementation of a 'smoke-free' policy in their schools, and if they favored laws forbidding the sale of tobacco to everyone, to persons under 21, or only to minors under 18. Other questions queried respondents about their concerns that tobacco was addictive, caused bad breath, stained teeth, was expensive, or was disapproved of by parents and friends. In addition, the survey assessed beliefs about the dangers of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, and crack, the amount of peer pressure felt by respondents to drink or use drugs, and respondents' feelings of closeness to their families, general happiness, frequency of depression or sadness, level of stress in life, excitement about the future, and religiosity. Respondents who smoked cigarettes were questioned about how much they smoked, how and where they purchased cigarettes, how difficult it was for people their age to buy cigarettes in their community, whether they preferred strong, medium, mild, menthol, or nonmenthol cigarettes, which brand they bought when they last purchased cigarettes, how soon after they woke up they had their first cigarette, and how old they were when they smoked their first cigarette, started to inhale, and bought their first pack of cigarettes. Cigarette smokers were also asked if they had considered stopping or tried to stop smoking, if they were interested in participating in a 'stop smoking' program, and whether they would try to stop or reduce their cigarette consumption if the price of cigarettes were increased by one or two dollars per pack. Additional information gathered by the survey includes age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, degree of urbanization, state of residence, occupation of chief wage earner in the family, educational attainment of each parent, religious preference, amount of church/synagogue attendance, use of alcohol and marijuana, self-assessed academic standing and likelihood of graduation from high school, and plans after high school.

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Variable STATE is restricted from general dissemination for reasons of confidentiality. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete an Agreement for the Use of Confidential Data, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research. Apply for access to these data through the ICPSR restricted data contract portal, which can be accessed via the study home page.

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