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Background: This paper examines the effectiveness of the "Smoke-Free Class Competition" in delaying the onset of smoking in adolescence. Each participating class must decide if they want to be a "smoke-free class" for the 6-month period from fall to spring. Classes monitor their (non-)smoking behavior and report it to the teacher regularly. Classes in which pupils refrain from smoking for this period of time participate in a prize draw, in which they can win a number of attractive prizes.Methods: To evaluate the effectiveness of the competition, a sample of 131 participating and nonparticipating classes (number of pupils 2,142; mean age 12.9 years, SD = 0.98) was compared with regard to their smoking behavior. Smoking status was determined by self-assessment on three occasions: (a) prior to the beginning of the competition, (b) 1 month after the competition, and (c) 1 year after the start of the competition.Results: From pretest to posttest smoking increased by 7.5% in the comparison group, while it decreased by 0.2% in the intervention group (OR = 2.19; P < 0.001). In the follow-up measurement, a clear increase in smoking prevalence occurs in all groups; however, the pupils in the intervention condition still have a significant lower increase of smoking (OR = 1.45; P < 0.01). Moreover, with regard to the nonsmokers at baseline, pupils in the comparison group showed significantly higher prevalences in smoking than the intervention group in the postmeasurement, 7.8 versus 13.9% (OR = 1.98; P < 0.001), as well as in the in the follow-up-measurement, 17 versus 21.3% (OR = 1.36; P < 0.05).Conclusions: The results suggest that the participation in the competition could delay the onset of smoking in adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to study the prevalence of smoking in a popular German television crime series ('A case for two'), which has been internationally distributed in 59 countries, over a 20 year period. METHOD: A content analysis of five randomly selected episodes per year of one crime series for the period 1985 to 2004 (100 episodes in total) was conducted. Smoking status of all major and minor series characters was assessed. Each episode was coded regarding one or more smoking occurrences, defined as active smoking or handling with tobacco products by a character. RESULTS: 97% of the episodes portrayed tobacco use with a median of 5 occurrences per episode. The series contained 1013 major and minor characters; the overall smoking prevalence was 17.1%. A downward trend in smoking occurrences and prevalence of major and minor characters who smoke from 1985 was followed by an increase in the last decade. CONCLUSION: Tobacco use is frequently portrayed in a popular prime-time German crime series, following a U curve over a 20 year period. Copyright © 2008 by Elsevier Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the immediate effects of a school-based multi-component program to foster a physically active lifestyle in adolescence., Design/participants: In a cluster-randomized controlled trial with pre- and post-assessment in 2014, 29 schools with 1162 8th grade students (48% girls) from Germany were included. Age ranged from 12 to 17 years (M=13.74; SD=0.67)., Intervention: While the control group attended education as usual, students in the intervention group received pedometers and took part in a class competition over a time period of 12 weeks. Classes with the most steps and best creative ideas to promote physical activity in everyday life were awarded., Main Outcome Measures: Primary outcomes included out-of-school sports activities (h/week), moderate to vigorous physical activity (days/week with a minimum of 60 min), active commuting (min/day), doing chores (min/day), and sedentary behavior (h/day) assessed through self-administered questionnaires as well as cardiorespiratory fitness measured using the 20-m shuttle-run test (completed laps)., Results: Significant interaction terms between group and wave of assessment were found on out-of-school sports activities (b=-1.09 [-1.89; -0.29], p=0.008), moderate to vigorous physical activity (b=-0.29 [-0.47; -0.10], p=0.002), and active commuting (b=-20.41 [-32.32; -8.49], p=0.001): students in the intervention group showed a higher increase of physical activity levels than students in the control group. The intervention effect on cardiorespiratory fitness missed significance marginally (b=-1.52 [-3.14; 0.98], p=0.065), There was no effect on students' sedentary behavior (b=0.06 [-0.72; 0.84], p=0.881)., Conclusions: An easy to administer school-based physical activity program (12 weeks) may enhance students' leisure-time physical activity., Trial Registration Number: ISRCTN49482118., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The presented systematic review aims at giving a comprehensive overview of studies assessing the relationship between sedentary behavior and indicators of mental health in school-aged children and adolescents., Methods: Six online databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, CINAHL and SPORTDiscus) as well as personal libraries and reference lists of existing literature were searched for eligible studies., Results: Ninety-one studies met all inclusion criteria. There was strong evidence that high levels of screen time were associated with more hyperactivity/inattention problems and internalizing problems as well as with less psychological well-being and perceived quality of life. Concerning depressive symptoms, self-esteem, eating disorder symptoms, and anxiety symptoms, no clear conclusion could be drawn. But, taking quality assessment into account, self-esteem was negatively associated with sedentary behavior, i.e. high levels of time engaging in screen-based sedentary behavior were linked to lower scores in self-esteem., Conclusions: Overall, the association between sedentary behavior and mental health indicators was rather indeterminate. Future studies of high quality and with an objective measure of sedentary behavior will be necessary to further examine this association as well as to investigate longitudinal relationships and the direction of causality. Furthermore, more studies are needed to identify moderating and mediating variables., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Little is known about risk factors that are associated with e-cigarette use in adolescents., Methods: Multilevel mixed-effects regressions were performed to assess the relationship between factors that might be associated with e-cigarette, conventional cigarette and dual use in a cohort of 2693 German adolescents (mean age=12.5 years; SD=0.6). Risk factors were assessed in October 2010 and life time e-cigarette and conventional cigarette use were assessed 26 months later., Results: Use of e-cigarettes as well as use of conventional cigarette and dual use were associated with higher sensation seeking scores, and higher odds of having friends and parents who smoke conventional cigarettes, with conventional cigarette use additionally with male gender, being older, having higher odds of siblings who smoke conventional cigarettes, and less likely for adolescents who attend a Gymnasium, secondary school with a strong emphasis on academic learning. The use of conventional cigarettes at baseline did not predict e-cigarette use at follow-up. Lifetime prevalence of e-cigarette use was 4.7%, of conventional cigarette use 18.4%. A quarter of e-cigarette users (23.8%) never smoked a conventional cigarette., Discussion: Data indicate that e-cigarette and conventional cigarette use share many but not all risk factors. E-cigarettes could counteract the process of denormalization of smoking., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Assessing the association between alcohol ad exposure and alcohol use in German adolescents, controlling for general ad exposure., Method: Cross-sectional survey of 3415 sixth to eighth graders (mean 12.5 years) from 29 schools in three German states (June 2008). Exposure to 9 alcohol and 8 non-alcohol advertisements was measured with masked ad images; students indicated contact frequency and brand recall. Main outcomes were ever drinking, current drinking, binge drinking, alcohol use intentions and outcome expectancies., Results: There was a bivariate association between both exposures (alcohol and non-alcohol ads) and all alcohol use measures. After adjustment for confounding, only alcohol ad exposure retained a significant association with outcomes. Multi-level logistic regressions revealed that compared with quartile one alcohol ad exposure, the adjusted odds ratios for quartile four were 2.4 (95% confidence interval 1.7-3.4) for trying drinking, 2.7 (1.8-3.9) for current drinking and 2.3 (1.6-3.5) for ever binge drinking. There was also an independent association between alcohol ad exposure and alcohol-related attitudes among never drinkers., Conclusion: This study demonstrates a positive association between exposure to alcohol advertising and multiple youth drinking outcomes, showing that the association is content-specific, not just a function of general ad exposure., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)