Background: Young adults remain the earliest legal target for the tobacco industry. Against this, the existence of smoking policies would appear to offer some protection to students on campus. However, little research has been conducted into the outcomes of such policies from a student perspective. Methods: The authors conducted 8 focus groups at…

The purpose of this study was to explore individual- and school-level policy characteristics on student smoking behavior using an ecological perspective. Participants were 24,213 (51% female) Grade 10-11 students from 81 schools in five Canadian provinces. Data were collected using student self-report surveys, written policies collected from…

Thirty per cent of school districts in British Columbia do not ban smoking outright on school grounds, and in several instances, smoking is permitted in smoking pits, regardless of school district policy. While there is evidence to suggest that enforcing a tobacco-free environment for students does reduce adolescent smoking rates, the concomitant…