Students Help Peers Quit Smoking, but Outside the Classroom

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Students Help Peers Quit Smoking, but Outside the Classroom

Using school-based social networks outside the classroom works better than standard classroom-based presentations at reducing the risk that students will start smoking, Lancet reports.

U.K. researchers randomized some 60 schools to either continue their usual antismoking programs or embark on a program in which respected peers tried to influence their classmates not to smoke.

The program was undertaken among 12- and 13-year-olds, some 15% of whom received training as "peer supporters." During a 10-week period, the peer supporters engaged their classmates informally, outside the classroom, about the benefits of not smoking.

At 1- and 2-year follow-up, smoking prevalence in the intervention schools was lower than in standard schools, but by the 2-year mark, the effect had diminished somewhat.

A commentator writes that the program shows "the potential exists to influence adolescents in real time while they make decisions whether to smoke."