Are we marketing the right message: Can kids “just say ‘no’” to smoking?

Two hundred sixty‐eight adolescents from two Southern California schools participated in a study designed to assess the compliance‐resisting strategies children use when rejecting pressure to smoke. Participants were asked to indicate how they would respond to eight hypothetical situations varying in relationship (friend vs. acquaintance), number of people present (dyad vs. group), and amount of pressure (first vs. second exertion of pressure). The influence of risk for future smoking on compliance‐resisting strategies was also assessed. Results indicate that contrary to the popular view, children do not always “just say no.”; Their strategies vary with the conditions mentioned above. Moreover, high risk adolescents appear to have difficulty using strong forms of rejection. These results suggest that researchers should consider the influences of situational variations and risk status for future smoking when developing interventions to teach children to resist smoking and other forms of substance abuse.