Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.In 1989, the Health Education Authority (HEA) launched its Teenage Smoking Campaign, which aimed to discourage young people from taking up smoking and to encourage existing smokers to stop. The HEA commissioned eight tracking surveys of children's attitudes to smoking between 1989 and 1994 to evaluate their campaign. In 1996, the Department of Health launched a new campaign - <i>Respect</i>. The <i>Respect</i> campaign seeks to address the reasons why young people start to smoke and to destabilise the fashionable perceptions of smoking. It seeks to make non-smoking part of a positive lifestyle which is relevant for both smokers and non-smokers. The 1996 Teenage Smoking Attitudes (TSA) survey, the first in a series of three annual surveys, was designed to help evaluate the campaign and look more generally at children's attitudes and beliefs about smoking and their knowledge of health issues. Two further surveys were carried out in 1997 and 1998. Since 1982, the Social Survey Division of ONS has also carried out a biennial series of surveys of smoking among secondary school children for the Department of Health (the 'Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young Teenagers' series (formerly 'Smoking Among Secondary Schoolchildren', held at the Archive under GN:33263). Since these surveys and the Teenage Smoking Attitudes surveys target the same population of 11-15 year olds in England, the HEA and the Department of Health decided to investigate whether it was possible to make the two surveys complementary to each other. Further to these investigations, the same sampling design was then used on both surveys, and they contained a group of the same core questions. The two surveys, however, have maintained different focuses. The Department of Health surveys remain the official source of smoking prevalence data for 11-15 year olds, whereas the emphasis of the HEA surveys was on finding out what people believe about smoking, their attitudes to smoking and their awareness of health education issues.
The 1997 Teenage Smoking Attitudes (TSA) survey was the second of three annual surveys. It focused in particular on cigarette dependency and children's awareness of smoking related articles, promotions and advertising in the media. Respondents also gave saliva specimens which were later analysed for evidence of cotinine - a major metabolite of nicotine. This was carried out in order to estimate the prevalence of smoking. Pupils were made fully aware of the purpose of the procedure. The 1997 survey was the first in the series where saliva samples were collected. For further details, please see documentation.
Main Topics:
The following topics were covered in the 1997 survey: smoking prevalence, age first smoked cigarette, brand of cigarette smoked, giving up smoking, parental smoking behaviour, attitudes towards smoking and smokers, recollection of health education at school and in the media, recollection of smoking related items in the printed media, social and educational factors, cigarette consumption, siblings smoking behaviour, cigarette dependency, physiological effects of smoking and giving up smoking, cigarette company promotions.
Multi-stage stratified random sample
Self-completion
Clinical measurements
