A quasi-experimental study was conducted to explore the efficacy of the program "Stay Away From Tobacco" (SAFT). Eleven classes consisting of 381 students in grades 7, 8, 10 and 11 were assigned by class to 3 groups (Intervention Group T with school teachers delivering the program, Intervention Group R with researchers delivering the program, and Control Group C). Data were collected at baseline, immediately after intervention and six month post-intervention. Self-reported smoking was the outcome measure. Program effect was assessed using the GLIMMIX and the MIXED methods. The 30-day smoking prevalence in group C increased from 4% at baseline to 10% at the six-month follow-up; while the same rate declined from 11% to 6% in group T, and from 9% to 1% in group R. For group T, the odds ratio (for 30-day smoking) and the regression coefficient (for indexed number of cigarettes smoked) assessing interactions between intervention and time was 0.20 (p<.001) and -0.1605 (p<.05) respectively. The same statistics for group R were 0.09 (p<.001) and -0.2406 (p<.01) respectively. There was a 19% decline in the predicted smoking rate from baseline to six-month follow-up in group T (11.5% vs. 9.3%) and a 26% decline in the same rate in group R (11.1% vs. 8.2%). The results from this pilot trial suggest that SAFT can reduce cigarette smoking among middle and high school students through its effect on improving these students' refusal skills and changing their perceived mental and physical values from smoking. A full scale evaluation is recommended.

Literature from Western nations has consistently implicated parental monitoring (both communication and supervision) as both a primary and a secondary protector against adolescent risk behavior [1-3]. The relationship between parental monitoring and adolescent risk involvement persists across ethnic and racial groups [4,5]. The robustness of this association in the United States is somewhat surprising since parenting style differs significantly by culture [6-8]. One possible explanation for the consistency of the relationship in spite of difference in monitoring style within the United States is that these subculture variations are comparatively minor. More substantial differences in the relationship might be found in different countries, particularly countries with substantially different cultural heritages from those found with American's "melting pot." Accordingly, we undertook examination of the relationship between perceived parental monitoring and adolescent risk involvement among a sample of youth in Beijing, China.

Data from 2,153 sexually active rural-to-urban migrants in China were analyzed to examine the relationship between the movement of rural-to-urban migration and increased HIV/STD (sexually transmitted disease) risk and the applicability of constructs of a Western-based theory of behavioral change to the study population. Measurements includedmigrant mobility, sexual risk, and the seven constructs of the protectionmotivation theory (PMT). Data in the current study suggest that high mobility among rural-to-urban migrants was associated with increased sexual risk. The PMTconstructs are applicable in identifying perceptions and attitudes associated with sexual risk behaviors in this culturally distinct population. Increased sexual riskwas associated with increased perceptions of extrinsic rewards, intrinsic rewards, and response cost. Also consistent with PMT, increased sexual risk was associated with perceptions of decreased severity, vulnerability, response efficacy, and self-efficacy. After controlling for a number of key confounding factors, all seven PMT constructs were associated with sexual risk in the manner posited by the theory. The association between mobility and sexual risk underscores the importance of effective HIV/STD prevention efforts among this vulnerable population. The social cognitive theories including the PMT may form a logical base for prevention intervention programs targeting rural-to-urban migrants in China.