Biomedical subjects

Jean L Forster

Publications and source records attributed to Jean L Forster.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Compliance with restrictions on sale of indoor tanning sessions to youth in Minnesota and Massachusetts.

BACKGROUND: Minnesota and Massachusetts require parental permission, for persons younger than 16 or 18 years of age, respectively, for indoor tanning. OBJECTIVES: This report examines business practices and characteristics associated with sales of indoor tanning to underage girls. METHODS: Fifteen-year-old girls tried to purchase an ultraviolet tanning session in 200 indoor tanning businesses in the Minneapolis-St Paul and Boston areas without parental consent. Business characteristics were recorded. Later, businesses were interviewed by telephone about their facilities and practices. RESULTS: Eighty-one percent of businesses sold a session to an underaged buyer on at least one of two tries. Illegal purchases did not differ by state. Businesses least likely to sell were larger, dedicated to indoor tanning, required employee certification, and had a minimum age of sale for their business. However, businesses in each of these categories still sold tanning sessions to underaged adolescents at 44% to 62% of the visits. Employees who requested parental consent or age identification almost never sold a session. LIMITATIONS: Businesses in Minnesota and Massachusetts only were included. CONCLUSION: Minnesota and Massachusetts laws specifying a minimum age of sale for indoor tanning are ineffective.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

The long-term effect of local policies to restrict retail sale of tobacco to youth.

Many adolescent smokers rely significantly on retail tobacco sources to initiate or maintain their smoking behavior. Though promising, the results from various interventions aimed at curtailing retail tobacco access have been mixed. In the present study, 14 communities were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups in an attempt to determine the long-term effect of local youth access laws and policies on adolescent smoking. The intervention continued for 32 months. Assessments were conducted at baseline (1991) and at years 3, 5, and 7. The intervention was based on a community-organizing approach that mobilized community members to support adoption and enforcement of local ordinances to restrict minors' access to commercial sources of tobacco. The major outcome measure for the study was cross-sectional prevalence of daily tobacco use among all students in grades 8, 9, and 10 in each community, measured by a self-administered student survey. A short-term significant intervention effect was observed and reported previously. That difference between intervention and control communities was maintained through the year 5 assessment but had dissipated by the year 7 assessment, very likely related to adoption of ordinances by control communities. Restricting commercial access to tobacco through local ordinances is effective in reducing adolescent smoking both immediately after the intervention (year 3) and 2 years later (year 5). Longer-term results are still inconclusive, because control communities adopted ordinances similar to those in the intervention communities.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Maternal/female caregiver influences on adolescent indoor tanning.

PURPOSE: To identify aspects of maternal/female caregiver (MFC) influences on adolescents' indoor tanning, including modeling, cognitions (MFC knowledge and attitudes about indoor tanning), and gatekeeping/monitoring (MFC permissiveness and concern) of indoor tanning. METHODS: A telephone survey of adolescents aged 14-17 years and their female parent/caregiver in Minnesota and Massachusetts was conducted in 2000-2001 (n = 1284 matched pairs). Logistic regression was used to obtain odds ratios for relationships between measures of MFC influence and teens' indoor tanning practices, adjusting for demographic and sun sensitivity differences. RESULTS: Separately, each of the five MFC influence variables was significantly associated with adolescents' indoor tanning practices. In a multivariate model, significant independent contributors were parents' behavior, parents' concern about their children's indoor tanning practices, and MFC permissiveness of teen indoor tanning. Using a combined summed scale of the 5 influence factors, there was a monotonically increasing likelihood of tanning with each incremental scale increase: (in comparison to none, 1 factor aOR = 4.1, 95% CI: 1.3, 12.8; any 2 factors aOR = 8.3, 95% CI: 2.8, 24.6; any 3 factors aOR = 14.3, 95% CI = 4.9, 41.8; any 4 factors aOR = 30.5, 95% CI: 10.3, 90.3; all 5 factors aOR = 66.0, 95% CI: 20.0, 217.6). CONCLUSIONS: Mothers/female caregivers may be a powerful influence on their teenagers' indoor tanning use, and are an important target for future health promotion efforts to discourage youth indoor tanning.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Smoking visibility, perceived acceptability, and frequency in various locations among youth and adults.

OBJECTIVES: This study tests whether there is an association between high visibility of smoking, perceived acceptability of smoking, and where youth smoke. METHODS: Surveys of 9,762 students in grades 8-10 and 1,586 parents in 15 Minnesota communities asked about the frequency of and opinions of adult and youth smoking in various indoor and outdoor public places. Chi-square analysis and ANOVAs compared smokers and nonsmokers. RESULTS: More smoking than nonsmoking youth reported often seeing adults and teens smoking in all locations. Forty-two percent of students often noticed adults and 35% often noticed teens smoking outdoors, also the most frequent location where teens report smoking. Students perceived adult and teen smoking as more acceptable in restaurants, recreation centers, and outdoor gathering places. More student smokers than nonsmokers believe that smoking is acceptable for both adults and teens. Of the parent sample, 52% often observed adults and 36% often observed youth smoking outdoors. Nonsmoking parents observed adult and teen smoking more often than parents who smoke. CONCLUSIONS: The data support an association between the frequency that youth observe smoking in various locations and the perception that smoking is socially acceptable by smoking status. Policies that restrict smoking in various locations will reduce both visibility and perceived acceptability of smoking in those locations.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Adolescent smoking behavior: measures of social norms.

BACKGROUND: Relatively little research has focused on the social norms of teen smoking. This study examined social norms regarding adolescent smoking and their relationship with smoking behavior. METHODS: Data were collected in 1998 as part of the follow-up for a randomized trial in 14 rural Minnesota communities. Four aspects of perceived social norms of smoking were measured, and students were classified as nonsmokers, daily smokers, past-week smokers, or past-month smokers. Social norms were compared across four levels of smoking behavior, and multivariate models controlled for personal characteristics and family and peer smoking. RESULTS: The sample comprised a total of 3128 girls and 3146 boys in grades 8 to 10. For all four measures, nonsmokers had the most antismoking perceptions of social norms around smoking (p <0.001). In multivariate models, noticing other teens smoking and the perception that adults care about and disapprove of teen smoking remained significantly related to past-month smoking. Using more frequent smoking as the dependent variable, noticing smoking remained significantly associated with smoking in the anticipated direction. Perceived prevalence of smoking did not perform consistently across models. CONCLUSIONS: Noticing teens smoking is associated with smoking behavior across three different levels of smoking frequency. The perception that adults care about and disapprove of teen smoking was associated with past-month and past-week smoking. Although perceived prevalence is often used to measure social norms of teen smoking, this measure may have limited utility. Strategies for health promotion and intervention on the issue of youth smoking are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

School functioning and violent behavior among young adolescents: a contextual analysis.

This paper examines associations between overall school functioning and frequency of violent behaviors among young adolescents (ages 10-14). The sample included 16 middle schools participating in an unrelated intervention study (on nutrition) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A School Functioning Index, developed to characterize schools' overall stability, performance and demographics, was constructed using data from public archives and school administrator surveys. Data on violent behaviors and other variables were collected in student surveys in fall 1998 and spring 1999. We used multilevel modeling to assess the effect of school functioning on violent behavior after adjusting for known individual-level covariates of violent behaviors. We found an interaction between school functioning (group-level variable) and expectations for future education (individual-level variable). Among students who reported expectations of completing a college degree (71% of the sample), positive school functioning was negatively associated with violent behaviors. Among students that reported expectations of completing less than a college degree, no association was found between school functioning and violent behaviors. These results support earlier work suggesting that objectively measured school characteristics are associated with students' violent behaviors even after accounting for individual-level factors and also identify a subgroup of students for whom school detachment may be an issue.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Project Northland: long-term outcomes of community action to reduce adolescent alcohol use.

Project Northland was a randomized trial to reduce alcohol use among adolescents in 24 school districts in northeastern Minnesota. Phase 1 (1991-1994), when the targeted cohort was in grades 6-8, included school curricula, parent involvement, peer leadership and community task forces. The Interim Phase (1994-1996) involved minimal intervention. Phase 2 (1996-1998), when the cohort was in grades 11 and 12, included a classroom curriculum, parent education, print media, youth development and community organizing. Outcomes of these interventions were assessed by annual student surveys from 1991 to 1998, alcohol purchase attempts by young-looking buyers in 1991, 1994 and 1998, and parent telephone surveys in 1996 and 1998. Growth curve analysis was used to examine the student survey data over time. Project Northland was most successful when the students were young adolescents. The lack of intervention in the Interim Phase when the students were in grades 9 and 10 had a significant and negative impact on alcohol use. The intervention used with the high school students as those in grades 11 and 12 made a positive impact on their tendency to use alcohol use, binge drinking and ability to obtain alcohol. There was no impact in Phase 2 on other student-level behavioral and psychosocial factors. Developmentally appropriate, multi-component, community-wide programs throughout adolescence appear to be needed to reduce alcohol use.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Parental, family, and home characteristics associated with cigarette smoking among adolescents.

PURPOSE: This study examines the relationship between smoking-related parental, family, and home factors with adolescents' cigarette use. DESIGN: Cross-sectional surveys of adolescents, via a self-administered questionnaire in classrooms, and their parents, via a telephone interview, were conducted. SETTING: Fifteen suburban and rural communities within Minnesota. SUBJECTS: The study sample included 8th, 9th, and 10th grade public school students and their parents. MEASURES: The dependent variable was monthly tobacco use among students. The independent measures were parental, family, and home smoking-related characteristics. There were 1343 parent-child dyads with completed surveys. RESULTS: The final, multivariate logistic regression model found the following variables to be independently related to higher smoking rates among adolescents: child's grade (odds ratio [OR] = 3.03 for 10th vs. 8th), parents' permissiveness of adult smoking (OR = 1.80), parents' having higher normative estimates of how many people smoke (OR = 1.70), parents' decreased likelihood of punishing their teenager for smoking (OR = 1.65), smoking by an adult living in the home (OR = 1.99), and sibling smoking (OR = 8.95). Lack of communication about consequences for breaking family smoking rules was associated with lower smoking rates among adolescents (OR = .49). CONCLUSION: The results of this study highlight the importance of parental smoking norms and attitudes and smoking role models in the home. It is important that smoking prevention strategies target and include the entire family. Limitations of the study are its cross-sectional design and that the sample was primarily white.

Adolescent↗