Trends in Cigarette Use amongst Kansas Eighth Grade Students: 'Communities That Care Survey' Results, 1995-2000.

This paper reports on models that clarify the meaning of trends in 8th grade smoking in one of America's most rural and least densely populated states. It is based on cross-sectional analysis of data collected in the "Kansas Communities That Care Survey" from 1995 to 1999. The analysis of trends data is presented in table form utilizing techniques commonly applied in epidemiological studies. The results give support to the thesis that gender is not nearly as important in identifying high-risk youth as behaviors and relationships. Attitudes toward violence and the use of drugs by peers are far better predictors of drug use than ethnicity and gender. It suggests that understanding the psychological etiology of adolescent drug abuse and developing programs that prevent the mental deterioration of children will be more effective than drug-specific programs that attack symptoms but leave the underlying disease untouched. (Contains 8 tables and 14 endnotes.) (JDM)