
C. S. HEDLER, F. X. BOGNER
dent-oriented approach and their contentment with such learn-
ing experiences. Similarly, Tobler (2000) noted interactive pro-
grammes to be more effective than non-interactive ones. Espe-
cially for girls, fostering self-regulation will be of future con-
cern in educational prevention because of the social sensibility
to the smoking environment (Mayhew et al., 2000).
Some study limitations should be mentioned. Although the
attrition rate was relatively low it could be that those who
dropped out had a higher risk of starting to smoke. Because of
the few already trying and experimenting pupils in our study, it
was not possible to examine the influence of the intervention on
higher or lower at-risk pupils. Children at higher risk of begin-
ning smoking need comparatively more and long-term help in
developing social and refusal skills and autonomous support
(Epps & Manley, 1993). It point to a need for further follow-up
data to measure longer-term effects of such a preventative crea-
tive intervention on smoking-related attitudes (Lynagh et al.,
1997). As Freeman et al. (2005) has established, experimenting
with cigarettes often occurs after the transition from elementary
to secondary school, because some of the new peers are already
smoking. Therefore, there is an implication for future interven-
tions to measure the influence of autonomous support on pu-
pils’ autonomous motivation for not smoking in the long term.
Another limitation of the study should be mentioned: we could
not obtain any measures of a control group due to the test de-
sign. Although Israel et al. (1995) showed that the assignment
to control groups may not always be feasible or desirable; we
were not able to apply these specific items to a control group
without any intervention. Furthermore, there is still a need to
examine the effect of the attitudes in a smoking prevention
approach without any group work. However, such newer orien-
tations had a comparatively greater impact on attitudinal and
behavioural changes and should definitely be supported (Bru-
vold, 1993).
To conclude, anti-smoking interventions should be tailored
to pupils’ developmental stages, targeted to their varied ex-
periences and motivational styles (Milton et al., 2008). Primary
prevention should always foster autonomous motivation in
health behavior. As shown, meaningful smoking prevention
with different creative educational methods motivates individu-
als and reduces the proportion of at-risk pupils. Careful atten-
tion should always be given to factors that may affect early
onset users, e.g. external control. Curiosity is the most signifi-
cant predictor and needs most attention. Interventions in a crea-
tive learning setting should generally focus on different
health-related profiles as well as on different risks of starting to
smoke. Our study shows that even a short-term student-centred
preventative intervention positively affects pupils’ autonomous
self-regulation and health-related attitudes, and possibly influ-
ences their future healthy behaviour.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the EU-grant BIOHEAD
(Biology, Health and Environmental Education for better Citi-
zenship). The authors would like to thank S. Gross for useful
comments on this paper and to M. Wiseman for statistical as-
sistance and valuable discussion.
REFERENCES
Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Filazzola, A. D., & Botvin, E. M. (1990). A
cognitive-behavioral approach to substance abuse prevention: One
year follow-up. Addictive Behaviors, 15, 47-63.
doi:10.1016/0306-4603(90)90006-J
Botvin, G. J., Baker, E., Renick, N. L., Filazzola, A. D., & Botvin, E. M.
(1984). A cognitive-behavioral approach to substance abuse preven-
tion. Addictive Behaviors, 9, 137-147.
doi:10.1016/0306-4603(84)90051-0
Botvin, G. J., Griffin, K. W., Paul, E., & Macaulay, A. P. (2003). Pre-
venting tobacco and alcohol use among elementary school students
through life skills training. Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance
Abuse, 12, 1-17. doi:10.1300/J029v12n04_01
Brown, S., Birch D., Thyagaraj S., Teufel J., & Phillips C. (2007).
Effects of a single-lesson tobacco prevention curriculum on knowl-
edge, skill identification and smoking intention. Journal of Drug
Education, 37, 55-69. doi:10.2190/638J-J7G2-4T58-28JU
Bruvold, W. H. (1993). A meta-analysis of adolescent smoking preven-
tion programs. American Journal of Public Health, 83, 872-880.
doi:10.2105/AJPH.83.6.872
BZgA (2004). Drug affinity among young people in the Federal Repub-
lic of Germany 2004. Köln: BZgA.
Carlhoff, H.-W. (1982). Rauchgewohnheiten bei Schüler des 4. Schul-
jahres. In DHS (Hrsg.), Rauchen oder Gesundheit. Politische, prä-
ventive und therapeutische Aspekte. Hamburg, 88.
Christianson, R. G., & Fisher, K. M. (1999). Comparison of student
learning about diffusion and osmosis in constructivist and traditional
classrooms. International Journal of Science Education, 21, 687-698.
doi:10.1080/095006999290516
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-deter-
mination in human behavio u r . New York: Plenum Publishing Co.
Dijk, F., de Nooijer, J., Heinrich, E., & de Vries, H. (2007). Adoles-
cents’ view on smoking, quitting and health education. Health Edu-
cation, 107, 114-125. doi:10.1108/09654280710731539
Epps, R. P., & Manley, M. W. (1993). Prevention of tobacce use during
childhood and adolescence. Cancer Supplemen t, 72, 1002-1004.
doi:10.1002/1097-0142(19930801)72:3+<1002::AID-CNCR2820721
309>3.0.CO;2-G
Freeman, D., Brucks, M., & Wallendorf, M. (2005). Young children’s
understanding of cigarette smoking. Addiction, 100, 1537-1545.
doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2005.01195.x
Furr-Holden, C. D. M., Ialongo, N. S., Anthony, J. C., Petras, H., &
Kellam, S. G. (2004). Developmentally inspired drug prevention:
Middle school outcomes in a school-based randomized prevention
trial. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 73, 149-158.
doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2003.10.002
Grolnick, W. S., & Ryan, R. M. (1989). Parent styles associated with
children’s self-regulation and competence in school. Journal of
Educational Psycholo g y , 81, 143-154.
doi:10.1037/0022-0663.81.2.143
Israel, B. A., Cummings, K. M., Dignan, M. B., Heaney, C. A., Perales,
D. P., Simons-Morton, B. G., & Zimmermann, M. A. (1995). Evalua-
tion of health education programs: Current assessment and future di-
rections. Health Education Quarterly, 22, 364-389.
doi:10.1177/109019819402200308
Jackson, C. (1997). Initial and experimental stages of tobacco and al-
cohol use during late childhood: Relation to peer, parent, and per-
sonal risk factors. Addicitve Behaviors, 22, 685-698.
doi:10.1016/S0306-4603(97)00005-1
Järvelaid, M. (2004). Adolescent tobacco smoking and associated psy-
chosocial health risk factors. Scandinavian Journal of Primary
Health Care, 22, 50-53. doi:10.1080/02813430310000988
Kobus, K. (2003). Peers and adolescent smoking. Addiction, 98, 37-55.
doi:10.1046/j.1360-0443.98.s1.4.x
Kremers, S. P. J., de Vries, H., Mudde, A. N., & Candel, M. (2004).
Motivational stages of adolescent smoking initiation: Predictive va-
lidity and predictors of transitions. Addictive Behaviors, 29, 781-789.
doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2004.02.007
Levesque, C. S., Williams, G. C., Elliot, D., Pickering, M. A., Boden-
hamer, B., & Finley, P. J. (2007). Validating the theoretical structure
of the Treatment Self-regulation Questionnaire (TSRQ) across three
different health behaviors. Health Educ a t io n Research, 22, 691-702.
doi:10.1093/her/cyl148
Copyright © 2013 SciRes.
158