Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Do stronger school smoking policies make a difference? Analysis of the health behaviour in school-aged children survey

Hallingberg, Britt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8016-5793, Fletcher, Adam ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6705-7659, Murphy, Simon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3589-3681, Morgan, K., Littlecott, Hannah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6391-9757, Roberts, C. and Moore, Graham ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6136-3978 2016. Do stronger school smoking policies make a difference? Analysis of the health behaviour in school-aged children survey. European Journal of Public Health 26 (6) , pp. 964-968. 10.1093/eurpub/ckw093

[thumbnail of 964.full.pdf]
Preview
PDF - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (131kB) | Preview
License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
License Start date: 1 January 2015

Abstract

Background: Associations of the strength of school smoking policies with cigarette, e-cigarette and cannabis use in Wales were examined. Methods: Nationally representative cross-sectional survey of pupils aged 11–16 years (N=7376) in Wales. Senior management team members from 67 schools completed questionnaires about school smoking policies, substance use education and tobacco cessation initiatives. Multi-level, logistic regression analyses investigated self-reported cigarette, e-cigarette and cannabis use, for all students and those aged 15–16 years. Results: Prevalence of current smoking, e-cigarette use and cannabis use in the past month were 5.3%, 11.5% and 2.9%, respectively. Of schools that provided details about smoking policies (66/67), 39.4% were strong (written policy applied to everyone in all locations), 43.9% were moderate (written policy not applied to everyone in all locations) and 16.7% had no written policy. There was no evidence of an association of school smoking policies with pupils’ tobacco or e-cigarette use. However, students from schools with a moderate policy [OR = 0.47; 95% (confidence interval) CI: 0.26–0.84] were less likely to have used cannabis in the past month compared to schools with no written policy. This trend was stronger for students aged 15–16 years (moderate policy: OR = 0.42; 95% CI: 0.22–0.80; strong policy: OR = 0.45; 95% CI: 0.23–0.87). Conclusions: School smoking policies may exert less influence on young people’s smoking behaviours than they did during times of higher adolescent smoking prevalence. Longitudinal studies are needed to examine the potential influence of school smoking policies on cannabis use and mechanisms explaining this association

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer)
Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISSN: 1101-1262
Funders: MRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 23 August 2016
Date of Acceptance: 27 May 2016
Last Modified: 06 Aug 2023 19:26
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/92133

Citation Data

Cited 6 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics