Student heart health knowledge, smoking attitudes, and self-esteem.

The Chicago Heart Health Curriculum Program (CHHCP) is a comprehensive, cardiovascular disease, risk-reduction program designed for a multiracial urban population of sixth-grade students and their families. The study showed strong program impact on student health knowledge, and found that independence of peers significantly influenced smoking attitudes and self-esteem. The latter was associated strongly with humanistic teacher attitudes and behavior as well. Smoking attitudes were found to be related significantly to general health attitudes. The results suggest that future programs conveying heart health knowledge should consider student learning in the affective context of self-esteem, independence of peers, and teacher humanism. Reinforcement through continual intervention over a prolonged period may produce more permanent change over time.