OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of two educational strategies to prevent tobacco addiction in schoolchildren living in Herault, France. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A study was conducted to deliver an intervention and make a concurrent comparison, among elementary school, fifth-grade students, during school years 1992 to 1995, in Herault Department, Montpellier, France. Three observation groups were included: Group 1 was subject to a cross-sectional educational intervention; Group 2 was only subject to a single health activity on World Day Against Smoking; and Group 3 or control was not subject to any intervention. RESULTS: The prognostic role of peers and the family setting on tobacco consumption was confirmed; after three years, the Group subject to the sustained cross-sectional intervention showed a prevalence of smokers significantly lower than that of the other two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Even though tobacco consumption seems to begin earlier in boys than in girls, in the former the prevalence increases from 0.7 to 7% after three years. Preventive educational interventions should be maintained and reinforced to be effective on the initiation and cessation of tobacco smoking among children.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of two educational strategies to prevent tobacco addiction in schoolchildren living in Herault, France. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A study was conducted to deliver an intervention and make a concurrent comparison, among elementary school, fifth-grade students, during school years 1992 to 1995, in Herault Department, Montpellier, France. Three observation groups were included: Group 1 was subject to a cross-sectional educational intervention; Group 2 was only subject to a single health activity on World Day Against Smoking; and Group 3 or control was not subject to any intervention. RESULTS: The prognostic role of peers and the family setting on tobacco consumption was confirmed; after three years, the Group subject to the sustained cross-sectional intervention showed a prevalence of smokers significantly lower than that of the other two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Even though tobacco consumption seems to begin earlier in boys than in girls, in the former the prevalence increases from 0.7 to 7% after three years. Preventive educational interventions should be maintained and reinforced to be effective on the initiation and cessation of tobacco smoking among children.