Addiction Research & Therapy

Cigarette smoking is one of major public health problems in the world. Cigarette smoking is responsible for over 80 percent of ill-health and premature mortality worldwide. Low-birth rate and premature birth are also prevalent among the babies born to the smoking mothers.

Due to some state legislations and public education campaigns, adult smoking rate in some developed countries has subsided. However, the trend for female smoking and rate of smoking in other countries’ has been on the rise. Traditional approaches to prevention, such as negative or fear-based approaches have been tried. Despite their “face validity” they have failed to produce measurable reductions in smoking. The author will present recommendation for a comprehensive preventive program with characteristics that have been consistently eff ective with other preventive programs with diff erent population age groups. This ecologically-based proposed multi-purpose preventive program will combine smoking prevention with other risk reduction objectives, providing rationale for involving various social, cultural, community and family resources, as well as developmentally based factors. Th rough this proposed theoretical framework, the author hopes to shed light on the nature of complexity of childhood smoking behavior. Lastly, the theory’s strengths and limitations will be discussed.