Direct Quotations from Qualitative Interviews of Students, Teachers, and Presenters
| Respondent | Quotation |
|---|---|
| Students | “I was way off. I thought more adults than 9thth graders smoke, and I thought no 5th graders smoke.” |
| “If you smoke cigarettes, you are buying your own death.” | |
| “When you’re older, then you get more peer pressure and you need more help saying ‘No.’” | |
| “You could tell she [the doctor] knew what she was talking about”o. She was speaking from experience.” | |
| Teachers | “I think the Tar Wars presentation is a real important part of our overall health curriculum because that really points out to kids the risks of smoking and of using chewing tobacco and also the good things that happen to them if they don’t smoke or use tobacco. So, probably 50% of my students’ parents smoke, and, so I think it’s kind of important that my students are given an objective view of the smoking and chewing tobacco, and, hopefully, they will make their own decisions when they get of the age to use those products.” |
| “The smell of it and the cost of it. That appalled them. One of my little kids went home and told his mother that if she quit smoking, that they’d have enough money to buy good food.” | |
| “The advertisements they always find interesting because they like to see how they’re being tricked. But then, some of the facts that he gave, about when people start smoking or, you know, the percentage of kids in the 9th grade who are smoking, it’s kind of shocking to them they can’t believe it.” | |
| “When he did the breathing through the straw and there was some running and jumping and then realizing they couldn’t breathe while they do sports. We have some children who are really interested in sports and they are everywhere. And, realizing how important it is to run fast, ski hard and kick that soccer ball, they wouldn’t be able to breathe very well; I think that really got to them.” | |
| Presenters | “When you tell them how many dollars a year cigarettes cost. A thousand dollars a year for one pack a day. That’s when you get the ‘oohs’ around the room. We talk about what else they can buy with that much money.” |
| “ ‘We’ve heard it all, we’ve done the DARE program, we know all there is to know about smoking, you’re not telling us anything new,’ [the students say]; and it wasn’t until they actually heard the beginning of the presentation that they were really willing to sit and listen, because they realized, oh, this is a little different than what we’ve heard before.” | |
| “… they also like any messages I give them that are new or … that they didn’t know about. For example, one of the facts that we talk about is that tobacco companies pay movie-making companies to put smoking or cigarettes in there. And, man, especially even in kids movies and, like, the kids go, ‘Whoa!’ They didn’t know that and so they were impressed by the power of the tobacco company.” | |
| “The thing that surprised and personally amazed me, was their estimates of smoking prevalence in society.… They estimated that 25% to to 40% of high-schoolers and 60% of adults are smoking now.” |