An Application of the Social Development Model to Tobacco Use Prevention

This study was conducted to examine the risk and protective factors associated with tobacco use among an adolescent population. The social development model was used to collect data from a stratified random sample of students in a southern state. Students were compared based on their self-reported tobacco use in the past 30 days. The dependent variables of interest were the risk and protective factors within the arenas of family, school, community, and peer-individual. Overall the tobacco users reported significantly higher mean scores in the risk factors and lower in the protective factors than those who did not use tobacco.