Socio-economic differences in smoking among adolescents in a school-based smoking intervention: The X:IT II study.

Aims: Socio-economic inequalities in health behaviour may be influenced by health interventions. We examined whether the X:IT II intervention, aiming at preventing smoking in adolescence, was equally effective among students from different occupational social classes (OSC). Methods: We used data from the multi-component school-based smoking preventive intervention X:IT II, targeting 13- to 15-year-olds in Denmark. The intervention was tested in 46 schools with 2307 eligible students at baseline (response rate=86.6%) and had three main intervention components: smoke-free school time, smoke-free curriculum and parental involvement. We used a difference-in-difference design and estimated the change in current smoking after the first year of implementation in high versus low OSC. Analyses were based on available cases (N=1190) and imputation of missing data at follow-up (N=1967). Results: We found that 1% of the students from high OSC and 4.9% from low OSC were smokers at baseline (imputed data), and 8.2% of the students from high OSC and 12.2% from low OSC were smokers at follow-up. Difference-in-difference estimates were close to zero, indicating no differential trajectory. Conclusions: As intended, the X:IT II intervention, designed to apply equally to students from all socio-economic groups, did not seem to create different trajectories in current smoking among adolescents in high and low socio-economic groups. To diminish social inequality in health, future studies should carefully consider the ability to affect all socio-economic groups equally, or even to appeal mainly to participants from lower socio-economic groups, as they are often the ones most in need of intervention.

Gender differences in attitudes towards a school-based smoking prevention intervention.

AIMS: There are well-known gender differences in smoking, including the pattern of use and the effectiveness of smoking prevention programs. However, little is known about the differences between boys and girls in their attitudes towards smoking prevention interventions. This study explores gender differences in attitudes towards a school-based intervention to prevent smoking. METHODS: We used data from the X:IT II intervention study conducted in 46 Danish elementary schools. RESULTS: Compared to boys, girls were more positive towards smoke-free school time, both concerning rules for teachers smoking (odds ratio (OR) = 1.69, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.35-2.12) and for students smoking (OR = 1.41, 95% CI: 1.13-1.76). No difference was observed in students signing the smoke-free agreement. However, a larger proportion of girls reported that the agreement was a good occasion to talk about smoking with their parents (OR = 1.36, 95% CI: 1.13-1.76). Girls were also more positive towards the smoke-free curriculum (OR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.19-1.94). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that girls were, overall, more positive towards the components of the smoking preventive intervention. Our findings highlight the importance of considering differences in intervention preferences for boys and girls in future health prevention initiatives.