Development and validation of the avoidance of environmental tobacco smoke scale.

The Avoidance of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) scale is a self-report measure of the avoidance of ETS by young adults. Initial use of the scale with 30 undergraduate students showed an internal consistency of .84 across 40 items and .90 in a refined 28-item instrument. In a sample of 241 students, a 20-item scale had an internal consistency reliability of .94 and a refined 10-item scale had an internal consistency of .86. In a sample of 95 mothers with a mean age of 36, the 10-item scale had an internal consistency of .81. In three distinct samples, significant known groups' discrimination was found between smokers and nonsmokers. Psychometric analysis indicates that the scale merits further testing using a more heterogeneous sample from community and clinical populations to ensure its usefulness by clinicians and researchers interested in explaining, predicting, and preventing exposure to ETS.