DECISION MAKING OF ADOLESCENT PEOPLE

How Smoking Takes A Toll On The Will Power And Decision Making Of Adolescent People

Abstract

Although the United States has implemented numerous health-related policies to reduce tobacco use in public places, a number of countries are struggling with their populations' high and pervasive use of tobacco. A case in point is the high prevalence of cigarette smoking among adolescents in Taiwan, where smoking prevalence has more than tripled among adolescents, increasing from 8.2% in 1995 to 29.3% in 2002 (P. S. Chao, 1995; P. S. Chao, Liou, & Lee, 1999; Wang, Tsai, Huang, & Hong, 2003). Consistent with findings of other studies, these adolescent Taiwanese smokers report they began the smoking habit in the fifth or sixth grade and became regular smokers by the time they will be in the seventh or eighth grade (S. Chen, 1996; L. Huang, Tso, Yin, Young, & Huang, 1996).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT2

INTRODUCTION4

Objective4

Purpose of Study5

The Research Questions5

LITERATURE REVIEW6

METHODS11

Design11

Participants11

Materials12

Procedures13

ANTICIPATED RESULTS14

DISCUSSION15

REFERENCE16

How Smoking Takes A Toll On The Will Power And Decision Making

Introduction

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable mortality in the US and contributes to the development of major causes of morbidity, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and respiratory disease (Fellows, Trosclair, & Adams, 2002). This risky health behavior commonly has its start in the early-to-middle adolescent years.

Objective

Early adolescence generally is described as from 10 to 13 years of age and middle adolescence from 14 to 17 years (Radzik, Sherer, & Neimstein, 2002). Early onset of cigarette smoking leads to more life-years for tobacco use, which in turn contributes to an increased risk for serious health-related problems and concomitant rising health care costs (Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 2004; Everett et al., 1999; Fellows et al., 2002).

Taiwan is one of a number of countries struggling with a high incidence of teenage smoking, and researchers there as elsewhere have recommended that smoking prevention programs should focus on adolescents as young as 5th graders, before smoking behaviors become established (H. S. Chen, Percy, & Horner, 2001;H. S. Chen&Sheu, 1999).However, a single approach to intervention may not be effective because individuals are at different stages in their acquisition of health behaviors (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997).

Purpose of Study

The purpose of this study is to assess relationships between the stages of smoking acquisition in Taiwanese adolescents aged 11-14 and two variables related to health behavior change, self-efficacy, and decisional balance.

Approximately 54.3% of adolescents in the US have tried cigarette smoking in the past month, and 13.4% of them smoked at least one cigarette every day for 30 days (CDC, 2006).

The Research Questions

1. Does self-efficacy differ by stage of change in smoking acquisition?

2. Does decisional balance differ by stage of change in smoking acquisition?

3. Do self-efficacy and decisional balance together differentiate stages of smoking acquisition?

literature review

It is important for health care providers to develop intervention programs based on the target population's stages of behavioral change and to match strategies to their clients' stage of readiness if they are to be successful in changing health related behaviors ...