Date: Fri 28-Nov-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: MICHEL

Quick Words:

smoking-statistics-Gionfriddo

Full Text:

Smoking: A Nasty Habit That Hangs On In The Young

BY MICHELE HOGAN

According to a well-publicized report prepared by the Connecticut Association

for Human Services, over twice as many Newtown students than Bridgeport

students smoke.

The Fairfield County Community Foundation, Inc, recently released a report

prepared by the Connecticut Association for Human Services which cites Newtown

students as relatively high users of tobacco.

Paul Gionfriddo, the executive director of the Connecticut Association for

Human Services, pointed to affordability to explain the findings.

The just-released report that Mr Gionfriddo prepared contains old data,

however, such as statistics from a 1990 census, and responses to a

questionnaire circulated in 1993 by the Department of Education (DOE). In

1993, the DOE found that 28.9 percent of the eighth and tenth graders surveyed

in Newtown classes used tobacco.

"The data on smoking is most useful in comparing the relative percentage of

students smoking in each geographic area, and perhaps less useful in looking

at absolute numbers of smokers," said Mr Gionfriddo.

In Fairfield County Community Foundation's summary of the report "Perils and

Privilege: The Lives of Children in Fairfield County," Susan Ross, president,

stated that "tobacco, for instance, is used by 33.7 percent of the children in

Fairfield, 31 percent of the children in Greenwich, 30.4 percent in Westport,

28.9 percent in Newtown, 28.8 percent in Darien, and 28.7 percent in Weston.

By contrast, only 13.9 percent of Bridgeport's children reported having used

tobacco."

Judy Blanchard, health coordinator for Newtown Schools, was not surprised that

substance abuse such as cigarette use is higher in Newtown than in Bridgeport,

as suburban teenagers tend to have higher cigarette and alcohol use than

teenagers from inner city areas.

Mrs Blanchard was, however, surprised that cigarette use for younger students

was higher in this report than in the more recent "Voices of Connecticut"

report.

Mrs Blanchard commented that the 1996 Voices of Connecticut questionnaire

differentiated between a student who just tries a cigarette, and one who is

really addicted, by asking about frequency of usage.

The Voices of Connecticut questionnaire asked students, "How often have you

used the following during the past year (12 months)?" Students had a choice of

"never," "a few times," "monthly," "weekly," or "daily."

On the Voices of Connecticut questionnaire, Newtown results were close to the

average for the State of Connecticut, with two percent of seventh graders, 12

percent of ninth graders, and 21 percent of eleventh graders reporting that

they use cigarettes daily. If you combine daily and weekly usage for eleventh

graders, the total is 26 percent, which approximates the 28.9 percentage usage

found for the combined eighth and tenth grade students three years before.

Paul Gionfriddo, the executive director of the Connecticut Association for

Human Services, said that he did not know the wording of the questions from

the 1993 questionnaire, but said that "typically they ask `have you had any

tobacco in the past thirty days?'"

He also said that the questions on the 1993 DOE survey had been "standardized,

with proven validity and used across the nation."

Mr Gionfriddo went on to caution that "with teenagers, there are two

conflicting tendencies; one to under-report tobacco usage because they know it

is wrong; and one to over-report tobacco usage because they think it's cool."

Mr Gionfriddo explained that "the single most important intervention with

smoking among teenagers is price. A price change of $2 per pack of cigarettes

makes a big difference to teenage smoking."

Although Mr Gionfriddo's data was collected in 1993, he said that since "there

has been no change in tobacco pricing, or advertising (except Camel, the Camel

ad came down just recently) this 1993 data should still be reliable."

Mrs Blanchard said that in the past few years there has been "a huge emphasis

in society toward recognizing and dealing with problems with smoking. The way

we look at smoking has changed since 1993."

Mr Gionfriddo agreed that public acceptance of smoking has changed, but still

about one in three adults smoke. Several years ago, many work places had

evidence of smoking, and now many places of work have no hint of smoke in

them. Likewise, he said, many high schools may have no hint of smoke, yet have

a similar percentage of smokers.

Mrs Blanchard agreed that students may be more careful not to get caught

smoking now than they were in the past, but she thinks that if there were an

easy way to curb smoking with price setting, it would have been implemented by

now.

Although she sees nothing wrong with increasing tobacco prices, she sees

cigarette smoking as indicative of a larger problem centered on communicating

values within a family.

Mrs Blanchard recommends that "if we focus on strengthening families and

strengthening communication within them, we address many problems that

teenagers have to deal with, including the problem of teenage smoking. If a

teenager knows that parents disapprove of smoking, and that they must sneak a

cigarette if they want to smoke, their opportunities to smoke are lessened."

She said that "teenagers who are addicted to cigarettes really had to work at

it, because certainly the first few times someone smokes, it is not a pleasant

experience."

The report "Perils and Privilege: The Lives of Children in Fairfield County"

was the first comprehensive study of the health, wealth and overall well-being

of Fairfield County's children. The report states that "Even Fairfield County

-- the wealthiest county in the wealthiest state in the country -- has

children in peril."

Apart from the health risks associated with smoking, Newtown students were not

identified as being more at risk than other teenagers in neighboring areas of

Fairfield County, in the report prepared by Fairfield County Community

Foundation, Inc.

The more recent survey of Newtown teens, the Voices of Connecticut, also

identified smoking as a concern with Newtown students. On the survey, Newtown

students made a few suggestions for making their community better for teens.

They reported that they wanted "more jobs for teens, recreation programs, and

more teen centers."