Risk factors for and prevention of tobacco use.

This study describes the risk factors for and prevention of tobacco use among young people. Risk factors show differential importance along the course of tobacco use development. The contents of an effective prevention effort vary as a function of the age of target group. However, the mediation of the effects of effective programs is not well known. Various modalities of implementation of prevention programming may be important, though a majority of program evaluation has occurred in the school context. The majority of well-evaluated tobacco use prevention programs that employ a comprehensive social influences model show effects over an average of 6 years post-programming. Copyright 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.