Experimentation with smokeless tobacco and cigarettes by children and adolescents: relationship to beliefs, peer use, and parental use.

Experimentation with both cigarettes and smokeless tobacco by children in grades 3-12 in a school district in Pennsylvania was related to peer experimentation, parental use, and personal beliefs about the harm of the product for both males and females. Experimentation with both products had begun as early as the third grade and increased with age, with a major increase in experimentation during junior high school. Nearly half the males in grades 7-12 did not believe smokeless tobacco was harmful.