Smoke-free world for children's welfare: Perceptions of smoking in preadolescence

Lay concepts of health risks influence children's health behavior, their future health status and welfare. This study has been focused on children's smoking perceptions. Although a wide range of factors have been found to influence smoking in adolescence, preadolescent children's perceptions of smoking is a relatively underinvestigated research field. The study was conducted among 3rd, 4th, 5th year schoolchildren (N= 128) in two settlements of Bekes County, Hungary. The sample consisted of 57% males and 43% females. We used the "draw and write" technique to detect children's lay beliefs and experiences of smoking. Most respondents from the study have not tried smoking yet. On the other hand, there is a great number of adults who smoke in the children's environment. Despite this fact, children's attitude towards smoking is very negative. Children's opinions reflect many negative aspects of smoking: the health-damaging effects, the financial effects, and the negative effects for both social and natural environments. Similar to previous international studies, children of our sample possess mostly correct and comprehensive knowledge of the smoking-related health problems. Findings of our study provide a support for the importance of creating tobacco-free world for children's welfare. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.