Predictors of response to brief smoking cessation interventions for adolescents who have contravened school smoking policy

Objective: To determine factors impeding favourable response to brief interventions for smoking by Australian middle high school students. Method: Predictors of smoking at one month follow-up were examined in 56 Queensland state high school students (34% female) who had received a brief smoking cessation intervention. The potential predictors included smoking days/week at Time 1, academic performance, nicotine dependence, parental care, problem drinking, and peer smoking. Results: After accounting for academic performance, small variations in outcomes across two intervention types, and Time 1 smoking, problem drinking emerged as a modest predictor of smoking outcome. Peer smoking and parental care did not predict changes in smoking. Conclusions: Brief tobacco cessation programmes may benefit from routine screening and an additional focus on heavy drinking