A profile of teen smokers who volunteered to participate in school-based smoking intervention

Drawn from multiple statewide N-O-T studies, this investigation examined data from 5,892 teen smokers ages 14–19 who enrolled in N-O-T between 1998–2006. We demonstrate similarities and differences between N-O-T findings and existing data from representative samples of US teen smokers where available and relevant.N-O-T teens started smoking earlier, were more likely to be poly-tobacco users, were more dependent on nicotine, had made more previous attempts to quit, and were more deeply embedded in smoking contexts than comparative samples of teen smokers. Additionally, N-O-T teens were moderately ready to quit smoking, believed important people in their lives would support their quit efforts, yet had deficits in their confidence with quitting.This profile of N-O-T teens can guide efforts for targeted recruitment strategies to enhance intervention reach for teen smoking cessation. Findings provide guidance for marketing and recruitment efforts of intensive, school-based cessation interventions among established teen smokers, particularly those who want to quit. Study results may shed light upon who is and is not enrolling in N-O-T.Nearly one quarter of US high school teens currently smoke[1] and most will become adult smokers. The health and economic burden of smoking is staggering. Over 6.4 million of today's current teen smokers will eventually die of smoking-related diseases. Between 1995 and 1999, smoking was responsible for over 440,000 US deaths per year and cost the nation over $150 billion in annual health-related economic losses. Of these economic losses, $81.9 billion were related to mortality-related productivity[2]. With almost 4,000 new youth initiating smoking each day, there is an unequivocal need for medical and public health communities to identify and disseminate evidence-based interventions targeted to teens who smoke and who are motivated to quit. Research has shown that the majority of adolescent smokers want to quit,[1,3] but most spontaneous att