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| The concept behind this campaign is simple: The more involved parents are with their preteens, the less susceptible those children will be later to the lure of tobacco. |
A number of studies have linked certain parenting behaviors to whether a teenager is likely to smoke. Many of these behaviors in fact, most of them do not specifically involve smoking or tobacco. That's because teens see a lot more in a cigarette than rolled tobacco. Underlying a youngsters decision to chew or smoke are a slew of social and psychological issues, such as the need to show independence, act like an adult, or belong to a peer group. These are the kind of benefits implicitly offered in many cigarette ads and, not surprisingly, omitted from the tobacco industry's recent messages to parents.
Research has shown that children of involved parents are less susceptible to this lure. That's why the Got a Minute? campaign offers parents some specific ways to get more involved-ideas such as scheduling time for a child on one's calendar or remembering to tell a child he or she has done something right.
Why Preteens?This campaign targets parents of children 9-12, or kids who are soon to transition to teenage life. Research suggests that this age range presents "our last best shot" at influencing young people. If parents can establish a relationship and open communication between themselves and their preteen now, they may be able to have a greater influence on their child's life as they begin to assert more and more independence. |
The Got a Minute? advertising materials mention tobacco, but only secondarily. Formative research for this campaign showed parents were not as concerned about tobacco use as they were about remaining connected to their children in the transitional preteen years. Thus, the campaign targets less-involved parents of 9- to 12-year-olds on the brink of being offered their first cigarette. It offers parents what they want: a way to "get into your kid's head", as the print ads put it. The print ads list simple tactics on how to connect with preteens. If the campaign focused more specifically on tobacco than on connecting, there is a chance fewer parents would pay attention at all: in qualitative research, parents repeatedly expressed great doubt that their child would ever smoke.
Of course, the tobacco industry has taken a different approach. The industry's well-funded campaign aimed at parents makes a very simple suggestion: talk to your kids about tobacco. This is not the most effective approach, and it may actually backfire. Evidence in Florida suggests the industry's campaign is prompting more lectures than discussions. While more Florida teens reported hearing about tobacco from their parents in a recent survey, the number who reported they talked to their parents about tobacco remained flat.
In contrast, a group of substance abuse and parenting experts assembled by the CDC in 1999 concluded that parental involvement is not only a potentially powerful protective factor against tobacco use, it is a set of behaviors many parents willingly adopt.
This is not to say that the Got a Minute? campaign doesn't mention tobacco at all. The brochure includes a section that tells parents how they can help their teens quit smoking. In addition, the ads and other materials include a secondary message designed to position tobacco as a serious risk: smoking, the ad copy notes, kills one out of every three people it hooks.
To make the campaign work, the CDC recommends using several pieces of the kit:
Radio and print ads can build awareness and offer a few tactics.
PDF-150K), provides a menu of tactics on how to be an involved parent and contact information to find out more parenting skills.
In short, the Got a Minute? campaign should work like this: the state or local tobacco control program uses the kit's materials to offer parents ways to connect with their preteens. The parents gain awareness of a number of potential tactics and choose those that apply to them. Parents who successfully attempt a tactic slowly build closer relationships with their preteens. With that foundation, the children, as they reach the age of first use, are less likely to smoke.
The recipe is indirect but potentially powerful: higher-involvement parenting leads to closer parent-child relationships, and that, in turn, develops less-susceptible teens. Though parents are the campaign's target, the ultimate beneficiaries are their children. If this helps them reject tobacco, they will live happier, healthier lives.
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One or more documents on this Web page is available in Portable Document Format (PDF). You will need Acrobat Reader (a free application) to view and print these documents. |
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