Navigating the smoky waters of adolescence
Archived article from Sep 22, 2003
By Amy Vames
Imagine you, a non-smoker, are going out to dinner with a group of friends. Most of them, including your best friend, smoke. The hostess asks if you want to sit in the smoking or non-smoking section. Do you tell your friends the smoking section is okay, do you insist on sitting in the non-smoking section, or do you ask your friends to hold off on lighting up until the meal is over? For many college-age students, how to handle the situation can be a dilemma.
To help college students navigate the often smoky waters of late adolescence and early adulthood, a group of communication professors and health educators at Rutgers has created a game called "Most People." The game is designed to provoke discussion and self-awareness about smoking. Although the majority of college students don't smoke, there is a perception that the number of smokers is far higher, said Linda Lederman, professor of communication at the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies and one of the game's creators.
According to a 2001 survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about a quarter of college students had smoked in the month before the survey was taken. Recent studies at Rutgers corroborate this data for the university's student body.
"Another misperception is that smoking is a freedom of choice issue," Lederman said. But since nine out of 10 people who try smoking become addicted, choice has very little role in why people continue to smoke.
"It became clear to us that we had to create a game of prevention," Lederman added. "Smoking is addictive to most people who try it. We didn't want to demonize smokers but we wanted those playing the game to see that they could avoid starting to smoke."
The game's co-creators are Lea Stewart, communication professor; Fern Walter Goodhart, director of health education; Adrienne Coleman, a program development specialist in health services; and Lisa Laitman, director of the Alcohol and Other Drug Assistance Program for Students. In creating the game, the team researched the kinds of social situations involving smoking that most young people find themselves in at some point. "We've found that the best way to get students to learn about behavior and choices is to create a simulated reality," said Lederman.
The game is played with a dozen or more students. A facilitator presents the players with five scenarios in which smoking is involved. Each player chooses one of three actions they would take and receives a colored chip. At the end of the game, the facilitator discusses the choices made by the players and how likely they are to start smoking, based on the colors of the chips they received.
"The game encourages students to think about how they feel about smoking and to prepare themselves for situations in which they will have to decide whether to smoke or even whether they want to be around others who do," Lederman said.
"Students enjoy playing the game because they see themselves and their friends in these situations," said Goodhart. "And they have fun while they're learning." Funding for "Most People" was provided by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, which has distributed copies of the game to every college and university in the state. Lederman expects that the game will be played by student groups and in residence halls.
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