Tobacco acquisition and cigarette brand selection among youth

Objective -To study the acquisition of tobacco and the development of cigarette brand selection among youth. To com pare four methods of measuring brand preference among underage smokers. Design - Individual interviews were con ducted with youths to elicit their past and present experiences with tobacco. Setting - A high school and public places in Massachusetts, USA. Subjects-A convenience sample of 721 youths, aged 10-17 years. Results - Friends were the source of the subject's first cigarette in 69 % of cases. Fifty per cent of the subjects were smoking three or fewer cigarettes per day when they first purchased tobacco. The first brand smoked was the first regular brand chosen in 67 % of cases, and 51 % of smokers were still smoking the same brand as their first cigarette. Ultra-low tar and generic brands were unpopular among youths. Questions concerning the favourite brand, brand usually pur chased, last brand smoked, and friend's favourite brand produced very similar brand preference results for full-priced brands. However, only the question con cerning the last brand smoked seemed to assess the use of generic brands accu rately.