Skip to main content

Table 6 Children’s reasons for their non-smoking intentions

From: Effect of a sport-for-health intervention (SmokeFree Sports) on smoking-related intentions and cognitions among 9-10 year old primary school children: a controlled trial

Health messages

Quotes

Health implications of smoking

“I won’t [smoke] because if you smoke you will damage your heart and if you don’t smoke you can live a long and healthy life” (Girl, School 7).

“There’s a reason why I wouldn't smoke because your lungs wouldn't be in the best condition” (Boy, School 10).

Impact on sports performance

“I wouldn’t [smoke] because It’s harder to breathe and harder to do exercise” (Boy, School 9).

“Because I like doing lots of sports and if I smoked in the future it would be difficult to do [sports]” (Boy, School 8).

Cigarette contents and addiction

“Because I’ve learnt [in SFS] how many chemicals are in a cigarette and what goes into them, that’s why I wouldn’t smoke” (Boy, School 8).

I’m very confident that I’m not going to smoke cos they’ve [SFS] told us how bad it [smoking] is and there are over four thousand chemicals [in a cigarette] and it can be hard to quit” (Girl, School 1).

Financial costs of smoking

“I wouldn’t [smoke] because it costs you loads of money”(Girl, School 5).