The middle school years are a time of change for adolescents. They are exploring new interests, developing their own identities and relying more on friends and peers than parents for ideas, affirmations and approval.¹ Equipping students with life skills they can carry into adulthood is one of the best ways you as an educator can help them grow.

The program materials were developed by Lifetime Learning Systems, Inc., along with other independent experts, who assisted in the development.

Materials provided through the Right Decisions, Right Now program have been developed to help you empower your students to make decisions that will positively impact their lives and their health. And, one of the decisions you can help your students make is to be tobacco free.

Research shows that young people are most likely to try smoking for the first time between the ages of 11 and 15, or grades 6 through 10.² Yet at the same time, the Centers for Desease Control reports that “many children and adolescents do not understand the nature of tobacco addiction and are unaware of, or underestimate, the important health consequences of tobacco use.³

According to the CDC, tobacco-use prevention education should be “intensified in middle/junior high school, when students are exposed to older students who typically use tobacco at higher rates.⁴

Young people can be swayed negatively by their peers and can lack the skills they need when it comes to making the decision to be tobacco free. Educators, parents and others who are most influential in the lives of children and youth need to talk about tobacco prevention, the health consequences of tobacco use, the factors that contribute to experimenting with and using tobacco products and ways to avoid use. This program provides a well researched, systematic way to have that important dialogue.

Click the link for “Printed Materials” at the top of this page for more information about the program.

¹American School Counselor Association. Why Middle School Counselors. Available online at www.schoolcounselor.org/content.asp?contentid=231.

²CDC. Tobacco Information and Prevention Source (TIPS). Education Fact Sheet. Reviewed January 31, 2005. Available online at www.cdc.gov/tobacco/sgr/sgr_2000/factsheet_education.htm.

³CDC. Guidelines for School Health Programs to Prevent Tobacco Use and Addiction – United States. February 25, 1994. MMWR 1994: Vol. 43, No. RR-2; 1-18. Available online at www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00026213.htm.

⁴CDC. Healthy Youth! Health Topics. Tobacco Use: School Health Guidelines, Summary. Reviewed September 5, 2006. Available online at www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/tobacco/guidelines/summary.htm.