Characteristics of adolescents caught with cigarettes at school: implications for developing smoking cessation programs.

A potential method of recruiting adolescents for smoking cessation interventions is to offer treatment to students who have been caught with cigarettes at school. The present investigation surveyed 110 adolescents after they were caught with cigarettes at school. The majority of participants were daily smokers (65%) and 17% of the sample scored > or =6 on a version of the Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire. Smoking was pervasive in their social environment, with approximately half the sample reporting that all five of their five best friends smoked. Interest in quitting was evident. Most had made a quit attempt during the past year (71%) and two-thirds planned to quit within the next 6 months. However, questionable strategies (e.g., increasing caffeine consumption) had been used during previous quit attempts. The implications for developing school-based smoking cessation programs are discussed.