Rock concerts as an intervention site to reach high-risk youth

Audience: Tobacco control practitioners and health communications professionals.

Key Points: Teen tobacco prevalence have stabilized between 15%-25% nationwide despite continued efforts. Contemporary efforts to reduce tobacco use are not successfully reaching high-risk teens. A better understanding of youth culture and smoking among high-risk teens would help improve the precision and effectiveness of current strategies.  

To identify one potential high-risk population, this study used a time-location sampling method to survey youth at rock music venues in Richmond and Northern Virginia (N=323) who are 18 years old or younger. 37.6% of teens who attend rock shows in Virginia currently smoke, compared to 20% of all Virginia teens. 15.1% of teens who attend rock shows had smoked on 20 or more in the past 30 days. Asian teens were at lower risk at 8.3% while White, African American, and Hispanic teens had a smoking prevalence rate above 40%. Male smoking was significantly higher at 56.6% compared to female smoking at 28.2%. Rock concerts attract a concentration of youth who currently use tobacco, positioning them as an ideal site for precise targeted strategies. Potential intervention options for these venues will be reviewed.

Educational Experience: The session will present findings from the rock concert study. An interactive discussion will engage attendees on how to reach teens that congregate at these venues.

Benefits: Identifying naturally occurring concentrations of teens who smoke allows prioritization of limited tobacco prevention resources. Targeted interventions that appeal specifically to the high-risk group increases likelihood of message resonance, message identification, message awareness, and message recall.