When is the critical moment to provide smoking education for public school students? This study is designed to address this problem. Five hundred and twelve students, sixth, ninth, and twelfth graders in the Northampton, Massachusetts school system were studied. Their responses to a sixty-two item questionnaire revealed that sixth grade is the optimal time to provide education for smoking prevention. Sixth graders are characterized by a relative absence of peer pressure, a relative lack of knowledge of the effects of smoking, unfamiliarity with their parents' attitudes toward smoking and evidence that many students in this grade intend to smoke within the next five years.
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