A multidimensional approach to the impact of achievement emotions on high school students' L2 writing performance

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States; if current smoking rates continue, 5.6 million Americans aged <18 years who are alive today are projected to die prematurely from smoking-related disease. Tobacco use and addiction mostly begin during youth and young adulthood. CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analyzed data from the 2011-2015 National Youth Tobacco Surveys (NYTS) to determine the prevalence and trends of current (past 30-day) use of seven tobacco product types (cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, electronic cigarettes [e-cigarettes], hookahs [water pipes used to smoke tobacco], pipe tobacco, and bidis [small imported cigarettes wrapped in a tendu leaf]) among U.S. middle (grades 6-8) and high (grades 9-12) school students. In 2015, e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product among middle (5.3%) and high (16.0%) school students. During 2011-2015, significant increases in current use of e-cigarettes and hookahs occurred among middle and high school students, whereas current use of conventional tobacco products, such as cigarettes and cigars decreased, resulting in no change in overall tobacco product use. During 2014-2015, current use of e-cigarettes increased among middle school students, whereas current use of hookahs decreased among high school students; in contrast, no change was observed in use of hookahs among middle school students, use of e-cigarettes among high school students, or use of cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, pipe tobacco, or bidis among middle and high school students. In 2015, an estimated 4.7 million middle and high school students were current tobacco product users, and, therefore, continue to be exposed to harmful tobacco product constituents, including nicotine. Nicotine exposure during adolescence, a critical period for brain development, can cause addiction, might harm brain development, and could lead to sustained tobacco product use among youths. Comprehensive and sustained strategies are warranted to prevent and reduce the use of all tobacco products among U.S. youths.

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States; nearly all tobacco use begins during youth and young adulthood (1,2). Among youths, use of tobacco products in any form is unsafe (1,3). CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analyzed data from the 2011-2016 National Youth Tobacco Surveys (NYTS) to determine recent patterns of current (past 30-day) use of seven tobacco product types among U.S. middle (grades 6-8) and high (grades 9-12) school students. In 2016, 20.2% of surveyed high school students and 7.2% of middle school students reported current tobacco product use. In 2016, among current tobacco product users, 47.2% of high school students and 42.4% of middle school students used ≥2 tobacco products, and electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were the most commonly used tobacco product among high (11.3%) and middle (4.3%) school students. Current use of any tobacco product did not change significantly during 2011-2016 among high or middle school students, although combustible tobacco product use declined. However, during 2015-2016, among high school students, decreases were observed in current use of any tobacco product, any combustible product, ≥2 tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and hookahs. Among middle school students, current use of e-cigarettes decreased. Comprehensive and sustained strategies can help prevent and reduce the use of all forms of tobacco products among U.S. youths (1-3).

The aim of the study was to show the differences in healthy lifestyle and healthy food choices between high school and college students. The study was conducted in the Lublin region, Poland, with a group of 200 high school and college students using purposive sampling with the following four subgroups of 50 students, broken down by gender and type of school. Respondents completed a questionnaire concerning healthy lifestyle, healthy food choices, and barriers preventing a healthy lifestyle. Using discriminant analysis, the factors and barriers to practicing a healthy lifestyle and the factors of healthy food choices were identified by the respondent group and by gender. A multidimensional exploratory technique was also used to interpret the results. The surveyed high school and college students were not very committed to practicing a healthy lifestyle. Multidimensional exploratory technique was also used to interpret the lifestyle and healthy food choices questions. There was variation between the attitudes of college and high school students toward a healthy lifestyle. High school students paid more attention to physical activity and eating breakfast than did college students. On the other hand, college students, at a greater level than high school students, ate a healthy diet and checked the composition of the products they consumed, including the presence of preservatives and artificial additives, and the expiration date of the products. The main barriers to practicing a healthy lifestyle were, for college students, a lack of time and, for high school students, a lack of healthy food offerings in high school canteens.

&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Objective. &lt;/strong&gt;To identify the relationship between value-semantic orientations and the ability to empathize among high school students and university students. &lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background. &lt;/strong&gt;The ability to show empathy is an important factor in interpersonal and intergroup interaction. In the context of the total digitalization of society and the consequences of partial deprivation from direct interpersonal interaction during the pandemic years, schoolchildren and students tend to reduce empathy. Understanding the connections between empathic abilities and the value-semantic sphere of the personality is necessary for the development of adequate socio-psychological means of developing the skills of prosocial interaction among students. &lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Study design. &lt;/strong&gt;The relationship between value-semantic orientations and empathy abilities among high school students and first-year university students was studied, taking into account their integral intragroup status. The presence and nature of the relationship were checked using correlation, multiple regression and discriminant data analysis. &lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Participants. &lt;/strong&gt;Moscow secondary schools (88 (48%) girls and 96 (52%) boys) and 192 (51%) university students in Moscow (109 (57%) girls and 83 (43%) boys). The total sample was 376 people aged 16 to 19. &lt;strong&gt;Measurements. &lt;/strong&gt;To study the value-semantic sphere of the respondents, the method &amp;ldquo;Value Orientations&amp;rdquo; by M. Rokeach, the test &amp;ldquo;Meaningful Orientations&amp;rdquo; by D.A. Leontiev. Empathy was analyzed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index questionnaire (M. Davis, adapted by T.D. Karyagina, N.A. Budagovskaya, S.V. Dubrovskaya). To determine the intragroup integral status of the respondents, the proposed by M.Yu. Kondratiev methodological algorithm for determining the integral intra-group status of a member of the contact community. &lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results. &lt;/strong&gt;Positive connections between the empathic ability indicators and the importance of prosocial values of students were revealed. In high school students the index of empathic personal distress is positively connected with the value of friendly relationships. The higher the students&amp;rsquo; locus of control &amp;ndash; self and locus of control &amp;ndash; life scores, the lower the empathic personality distress. Predictors of empathic abilities in high school and college students are developed sense-life orientations and personal values reflecting positive attitude toward people (&amp;ldquo;sensitivity&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;tolerance&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;happiness of others&amp;rdquo;, etc.). Personally oriented values (&amp;ldquo;pleasure&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;self-control&amp;rdquo; etc.) are blockers of empathy. Predictors of the division of students into status categories in high school students are &amp;ldquo;empathic empathy&amp;rdquo; and the values &amp;ldquo;sensitivity&amp;rdquo; and &amp;ldquo;nurturance&amp;rdquo;, and in students &amp;ndash; &amp;ldquo;empathic care&amp;rdquo; and the values &amp;ldquo;sensitivity&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;freedom&amp;rdquo;, &amp;ldquo;tolerance&amp;rdquo;. &lt;br&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions. &lt;/strong&gt;The more significant for high school and college students are values characterizing altruism and acceptance of others, and the higher the indicators of life meaningfulness, the more developed are empathic abilities. Among the predictors of empathic abilities in high school and college students we studied, the main ones are indicators of meaningful life orientations and values of acceptance of others. Individual-oriented values are blockers of empathy. Predictors of students&amp;rsquo; division into status categories are empathic abilities and values of acceptance of others: the higher the indicators of empathy and prosocial values, the lower the probability of low status. Consequently, high school and college students give preference to peers with pronounced empathic abilities, which indicates the high importance of empathy for building favorable interpersonal relationships and achieving social success.&lt;/p&gt;

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the dynamic nature of demotivation in English language learning. To this end, the present research recruited students from high school, college, and university to investigate whether the darker side of motivation interacts with students' educational level. Using an adopted questionnaire designed by Kikuchi (2011), this study employed both descriptive and inferential statistics, chosen according to the nature of the research objectives. In descriptive statistics, means and standard deviations were calculated to determine the rank and order of the factors that had debilitating effects on English learners' motivation. Moreover, a one-way MANOVA was performed to determine whether there were differences in students' demotivation across educational levels. The findings revealed that the mean scores for all six demotivating factors were higher for college and high school students than university students. Additionally, high school students' mean scores for demotivating factors such as class environment, class materials, and lack of interest were higher than those of college students. On the contrary, college students' mean scores for class characteristics and experiences of failure-related demotivation were higher than those of high school students. The one-way MANOVA results showed significant differences in demotivating factors across students with different educational levels, leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis. The scores for high school and college EFL students on all six demotivating factors were significantly higher than those of university students. Furthermore, no significant difference was found between high school and college EFL students on all six demotivating factors. These findings implicate teachers, learners, and policymakers to foster a learning environment beneficial for English language learning.

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, and nearly all tobacco use begins during youth and young adulthood (1,2). CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analyzed data from the 2011-2017 National Youth Tobacco Surveys (NYTS)* to determine patterns of current (past 30-day) use of seven tobacco product types among U.S. middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) students and estimate use nationwide. Among high school students, current use of any tobacco product decreased from 24.2% (estimated 3.69 million users) in 2011 to 19.6% (2.95 million) in 2017. Among middle school students, current use of any tobacco product decreased from 7.5% (0.87 million) in 2011 to 5.6% (0.67 million) in 2017. In 2017, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were the most commonly used tobacco product among high (11.7%; 1.73 million) and middle (3.3%; 0.39 million) school students. During 2016-2017, decreases in current use of hookah and pipe tobacco occurred among high school students, while decreases in current use of any tobacco product, e-cigarettes, and hookah occurred among middle school students. Current use of any combustible tobacco product, ≥2 tobacco products, cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, and bidis did not change among middle or high school students during 2016-2017. Comprehensive and sustained strategies can help prevent and reduce the use of all forms of tobacco products among U.S. youths (1,2).

Background: The Internet is becoming increasingly important in providing medical knowledge. Students facing such information-rich environment, may not pay adequate attention to appropriate use of information sources. Aim of the study:The study aimed to evaluate the use of Internet for obtaining medical information by high school students (HSS) and medical students (MS), especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.Material and methods:Two anonymous online surveys were distributed through social media among Polish HSS and MS. The questionnaires of 562 HSS and 332 MS, representing 12 medical universities, were analysed.Results:33,7% MS and 12,6% HSS use Internet to obtain medical knowledge several times a day. 63% of all students believe that the COVID-19 pandemic increased this frequency. To accomplish that, 76% MS and 61.6% HSS frequently use search engines. 61% MS and 30,4% HSS often use Wikipedia. News websites are often used by 58.7% HSS and 19,3% MS. Medical databases e.g. PubMed are usually used by 28% MS. Both MS and HSS rated the author's specialty overlapping with the issue as the most important factor affecting the reliability of medical information sources (4.14 and 5.51 points on a 0-5 scale, respectively). 62,4% MS believe medical studies have significantly changed their perception of the credibility of medical knowledge sources. 50% HSS and 42,5% MS, when encountering incorrect medical information, never take any action to clarify it. 87,4% MS and 70% HSS express the need for additional classes on COVID-19 in their school curriculum.Conclusions:The Internet is widely used by HSS and MS as a source of medical knowledge. It is important to emphasize the need to develop the ability to select reliable medical information among users of the virtual world. Students understand the need to evaluate the credibility of sources, however they often do not take any action when confronted with erroneous information.

The adolescent age group plays a vital role in tackling the pandemic, one of which is in high school and college students. Through the Remaja Bergerak webinar with the theme of COVID-19, it is hoped that it will increase the knowledge of high school and college students in Indonesia regarding the epidemiology of COVID-19 cases and the COVID-19 vaccine. The purpose of this study was to compare the COVID-19 knowledge level between high school and college students. This type of research is a cross-sectional study with a pretest-posttest design. The first group consisted of 262 high school students and the second group consisted of 301 college students who have then compared the pretest and posttest scores. As a result, the high school student pretest scores were higher than the college student, but it was not significant (p&gt;0.05). Likewise, in the posttest result, it was shown that the high school student experienced a higher score than the college student, but it was not significant (p&gt;0.05). In conclusion, there was no difference in knowledge level in both high school and college students, but there was an increase in knowledge of each group.

ObjectiveThis article explores the value of hosting a grassroots neuroscience workshop that facilitates near-peer engagement between year-one medical students and local Brain Bee finalists (high school students). Near-peer mentoring is a formal relationship in which more academically advanced students guide immediate junior students. We hypothesized that similar activities have teaching, learning, and psychosocial benefits for all and can be easily replicated.ActivityThe Grenada National Brain Bee Challenge was launched in 2009 as a competition for high school students. Annually, there are at least 100 high school students registering to participate in the national challenge. In 2018, a grassroots neuroscience symposium, a local initiative, was created to prepare high school students who participated in the preliminary rounds for the final local and International Brain Bee competition. Traditionally, it is hosted annually by faculty at St. George's University School of Medicine (SOM). However, in 2022, the symposium was hosted by medical students. The symposium is designed as an eight-hour tutorial one-day session. The students rotate between facilitators as small group teams during each teaching hour. There are icebreakers, content presentations, and neuroanatomy skills stations. The medical students demonstrate expertise in neuroscience content and other aspects of professional competence. The activity was also designed to offer students of diversified backgrounds the opportunity to affect their educational pathways through role modeling, mirroring, and mentorship. Was this change beneficial to both sets of students (medical and high school)?Results and discussionWe aim to determine the value of the near-peer relationship between the local 2022 Brain Bee finalists (high school students) (n=28) and university (medical) students (n=11). Participants were surveyed about their experience. Data were de-identified and grouped according to common themes. A thematic analysis was conducted on the data retrieved from the literature review. Data suggest that both high school and university (medical) students report benefits after participating in near-peer engagement at a grassroots neuroscience symposium. In this teaching model, the medical students are the more experienced instructors and transfer their knowledge and skills about the field to the high school students. The medical students have an opportunity to consolidate their personal learning and give back to the Grenadian community. While informal teaching occurs often, this type of near-peer engagement with students from the community helps medical students develop both personal and professional skills such as confidence, knowledge, and respect. This grassroots initiative is easily replicated in a medical curriculum. The major benefits experienced by the high school student participants (of various socioeconomic backgrounds) were access to educational resources. The symposium requires active engagement, fosters a sense of belonging, and promotes interest in pursuing careers in health, research, academia, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).ConclusionParticipating high school students of various genders and socioeconomic backgrounds gained equal access to educational resources and may select careers in health-related sciences. Participating medical students developed knowledge and teaching skills and engaged in a service-learning opportunity.

FigureTobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States, and nearly all tobacco use begins during youth and young adulthood.1,2 Among U.S. youths, cigarette smoking has declined in recent years; however, the use of some other tobacco products has increased,3 and nearly half of tobacco users use two or more tobacco products.4 CDC analyzed data from the 2013 National Youth Tobacco Survey to determine the prevalence of ever (at least once) and current (at least one day in the past 30 days) use of one or more of 10 tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars, hookahs, smokeless tobacco, electronic cigarettes, pipes, snus, bidis, kreteks, and dissolvable tobacco) among U.S. middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) students. In 2013, 22.9 percent of high school students reported current use of any tobacco product, and 12.6 percent reported current use of two or more tobacco products; current use of combustible products (i.e., cigarettes, cigars, pipes, bidis, kreteks, and/or hookahs) was substantially greater (20.7%) than use of other types of tobacco. Also, 46.0 percent of high school students reported having ever tried a tobacco product, and 31.4 percent reported ever trying two or more tobacco products. Among middle school students, 3.1 percent reported current use of cigars, and 2.9 percent reported current use of cigarettes, with non-Hispanic black students more than twice as likely to report current use of cigars than cigarettes. Monitoring the prevalence of the use of all available tobacco products, including new and emerging products, is critical to support effective population-based interventions to prevent and reduce tobacco use among youths as part of comprehensive tobacco prevention and control programs. The National Youth Tobacco Survey is a cross-sectional, school-based, self-administered, pencil-and-paper questionnaire administered to U.S. middle school (grades 6-8) and high school (grades 9-12) students. Information is collected on tobacco control outcome indicators to monitor the impact of comprehensive tobacco control policies and programs5 and regulatory authorities of the Food and Drug Administration.6 A three-stage cluster sampling procedure was used to generate a nationally representative sample of students in grades 6-12. Of 250 schools selected for the 2013 National Youth Tobacco Survey, 187 (74.8%) participated, with a sample of 18,406 (90.7%) among 20,301 eligible students; the overall response rate was 67.8 percent. Participants were asked about ever and current use of cigarettes, cigars (defined as cigars, cigarillos, or little cigars), smokeless tobacco (defined as chewing tobacco, snuff, or dip), pipes, bidis, kreteks, hookah, snus, dissolvable tobacco, and e-cigarettes. Ever use was defined as ever trying a product, and current use was defined as using a product on one or more days during the past 30 days. For both ever use and current use, any tobacco use was defined as reporting the use of one or more tobacco products; use of two or more tobacco products was defined as reporting the use of two or more tobacco products in the specified time, current (in the past 30 days) or ever. Combustible tobacco was defined as cigarettes, cigars, pipes, bidis, kreteks, and/or hookahs. Noncombustible tobacco was defined as smokeless tobacco, snus, and/or dissolvable tobacco. A separate category was created for e-cigarette use. Data were adjusted for nonresponse and weighted to provide national prevalence estimates with 95 percent confidence intervals; statistically significant (p<0.05) differences between population subgroups were assessed using a t-test. Estimates for ever and current use are presented for each type of product, for any tobacco use, and for the use of two or more tobacco products by selected demographics for each school level (middle and high). In 2013, 22.9 percent of high school students reported current use of a tobacco product, including 12.6 percent who reported current use of two or more tobacco products. Among all high school students, cigarettes (12.7%) and cigars (11.9%) were the most commonly reported tobacco products currently used, followed by smokeless tobacco (5.7%), hookahs (5.2%), e-cigarettes (4.5%), pipes (4.1%), snus (1.8%), kreteks (0.8%), bidis (0.6%), and dissolvable tobacco (0.4%). Among high school students who identified as non-Hispanic white or Hispanic, cigarettes were the product most commonly used, whereas cigar use was more common for all other race/ethnicities. Cigar use among non-Hispanic black students was nearly 50 percent higher than cigarette use. Younger children are less likely to try tobacco than older children with the proportions of current any tobacco users and current users of two or more tobacco products being lower among middle school students (6.5% and 2.9%, respectively) than high school students (22.9% and 12.6%, respectively). Cigars (3.1%) and cigarettes (2.9%) were the most commonly reported tobacco products currently used by middle school students, followed by pipes (1.9%); smokeless tobacco (1.4%); e-cigarettes and hookahs (1.1%); and bidis, kreteks, and snus (0.4%). The proportions of ever users of any tobacco product and ever users of two or more tobacco products were higher among high school (46.0% and 31.4%, respectively) than middle school (17.7% and 9.4%, respectively) students. Combustible tobacco products were the most commonly used form of tobacco among both current and ever tobacco users. Among high school students, 20.7 percent currently used combustible products (13.5% combustible only; 3.4% combustible and noncombustible only; 2.7% combustible and e-cigarettes only; and 1.1% combustible, noncombustible, and e-cigarettes). Of all middle school students, 5.4 percent currently used combustible products (4.0% combustible only; 0.8% combustible and noncombustible only; 0.4% combustible and e-cigarettes only; and 0.2% combustible, noncombustible, and e-cigarettes). Current use of only e-cigarettes was 0.6 percent among high school students and 0.4 percent among middle school students. Continuing Efforts Needed In 2013, more than one in five high school students (22.9%) and more than one in 20 middle school students (6.5%) reported using a tobacco product on one or more days during the past 30 days. In addition, nearly half of high school students (46.0%) and almost one in five of middle school students (17.7%) had ever used tobacco. These findings indicate that continued efforts are needed to monitor and prevent the use of all forms of tobacco use among youths. Combustible tobacco use remains the most common type of tobacco use and causes most tobacco-related disease and death in the United States.1 Nine out of 10 high school current and ever tobacco users used a combustible tobacco product. There was lower use of only noncombustible tobacco products or only e-cigarettes among both current and ever tobacco users. However, noncombustible products also pose health risks.7 Smokeless tobacco is not a safe alternative to combustible tobacco because it causes cancer and nicotine addiction.7 In addition, although the long-term impact of e-cigarette use on public health overall remains uncertain, the 2014 Surgeon General's report found that nicotine use can have adverse effects on adolescent brain development; therefore, nicotine use by youths in any form (whether combustible, smokeless, or electronic) is unsafe.1 Most youths who currently use tobacco believe that they will be able to stop using tobacco in the near future; unfortunately, however, many continue use well into adulthood.2 Youths who report use of multiple tobacco products are at higher risk for developing nicotine dependence; about two thirds (62.9%) of youths who use more than one tobacco product report tobacco dependence symptoms, compared with 36.0 percent of those who use one tobacco product.8 Thus, youths who use multiple tobacco products might be more likely to continue using tobacco into adulthood. Comprehensive youth tobacco-prevention programs that prevent initiation of all types of tobacco products are critical to protect youths from tobacco use and nicotine dependence. Possible Limitations The findings in this report are subject to at least five limitations: First, data were collected only from youths who attended either public or private schools and might not be generalizable to all middle and high school-aged youths. Second, data were self-reported; thus, the findings are subject to recall and/or response bias. Third, current and ever tobacco use were estimated by including students who responded to using at least one of the 10 tobacco products included in the survey but might have had missing responses to any of the other nine tobacco products; missing responses were considered as nonuse, which might have resulted in conservative estimates. Fourth, nonresponse bias might have affected the results because the survey response rate was only 67.8 percent. Finally, estimates might differ from those derived from other nationally representative youth surveillance systems, in part because of differences in survey methods, survey type and topic, and age and setting of the target population. However, overall prevalence estimates are similar across the various youth surveys.2 Although substantial progress has been made in decreasing cigarette use among youths,2 overall tobacco use is still high, with one in five high school students currently using tobacco and nearly half reporting they have ever used a tobacco product. Ever using a tobacco product is a concern because even one-time use of tobacco is associated with increased long-term risks for becoming a regular user.2 In April 2014, FDA issued a proposed rule to extend its jurisdiction over the manufacture, marketing, and distribution of tobacco products not currently regulated by FDA, which includes cigars, e-cigarettes, pipes, and hookahs.9 FDA is reviewing the comments received on this proposed rule. Full implementation of comprehensive tobacco control programs at CDC-recommended funding levels would be expected to result in further reductions in tobacco use and changes in social norms regarding the acceptability of tobacco use among U.S. youths.1,2,10 Additionally, considering how trends in tobacco product use and tobacco marketing changes, rigorous surveillance of all available forms of tobacco use by youths, particularly emerging products such as e-cigarettes, is essential. Rigorous surveillance of the use of all types of tobacco will inform enhanced prevention efforts that could protect the estimated 5.6 million youths in the United States currently projected to die prematurely from a smoking-related disease.1 Reprinted (slightly adapted) from Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2014;63;1021-1026.

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States; nearly all tobacco product use begins during youth and young adulthood (1,2). CDC and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) analyzed data from the 2019 and 2020 National Youth Tobacco Surveys (NYTS) to determine changes in the current (past 30-day) use of seven tobacco products among U.S. middle (grades 6-8) and high (grades 9-12) school students. In 2020, current use of any tobacco product was reported by 16.2% (4.47 million) of all students, including 23.6% (3.65 million) of high school and 6.7% (800,000) of middle school students. Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were the most commonly used tobacco product among high school (19.6%; 3.02 million) and middle school (4.7%; 550,000) students. From 2019 to 2020, decreases in current use of any tobacco product, any combustible tobacco product, multiple tobacco products, e-cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco occurred among high school and middle school students; these declines resulted in an estimated 1.73 million fewer current youth tobacco product users in 2020 than in 2019 (6.20 million) (3). From 2019 to 2020, no significant change occurred in the use of cigarettes, hookahs, pipe tobacco, or heated tobacco products. The comprehensive and sustained implementation of evidence-based tobacco control strategies at the national, state, and local levels, combined with tobacco product regulation by FDA, is warranted to help sustain this progress and to prevent and reduce all forms of tobacco product use among U.S. youths (1,2).

Tobacco product use during adolescence increases the risk for lifelong nicotine addiction and immediate adverse health effects (1,2). During 2011–2017, current use of cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, and pipe tobacco decreased significantly among middle and high school students, but current use of e-cigarettes increased significantly from 1.5% to 11.7% (3). In 2017, an estimated 19.6% of high school students (2.95 million) and 5.6% of middle school students (0.67 million) were current users of any tobacco product; e-cigarettes were the most commonly used tobacco product for both middle (3.3%) and high (11.7%) school students (3). The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CDC analyzed combined data from the 2015–2017 National Youth Tobacco Surveys (NYTS) to determine past 30-day (current) frequency of use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, and hookahs among U.S. high school and middle school students. During 2015–2017, the proportion of students currently using tobacco products who used a product for ≥20 of the past 30 days ranged from 14.0% of cigar smokers to 38.7% of smokeless tobacco users among high school students and from 13.1% of e-cigarette users to 24.5% of hookah smokers among middle school students. Among current users, use of two or more tobacco products ranged from 76.7% (e-cigarettes) to 90.9% (hookahs) among those using the product ≥20 of the preceding 30 days, from 68.0% (e-cigarettes) to 84.2% (hookahs) among those using the product for 6 to 19 of the preceding 30 days, and from 48.8% (e-cigarettes) to 77.2% (cigarettes) among those using the product for 1 to 5 of the preceding 30 days. Sustained implementation of proven tobacco control strategies focusing on all types of tobacco products, in coordination with the regulation of tobacco products by FDA, are needed to reduce tobacco product initiation and use among U.S. youths.

BackgroundThere is a worldwide trend to include engineering design in high school curricula as a bridge course to higher-level STEM education and to increase high school students’ interest in STEM fields. This study used a battlebot design curriculum to compare engineering design learning between high school and college first-year students and then proposed suggestions for curriculum planning that promoted the continuity of learning between different levels of engineering design education.ResultsThis study used the creative product analysis matrix (CPAM) and lag sequential analysis (LSA) to explore the possible similarities and differences between the two groups’ understanding of engineering design. The results show that college first-year students were significantly better than high school students in CPAM, but the two groups were similar in their reflections on engineering design behaviors, indicating that the noncumulative learning results must be taken seriously.ConclusionsHigher-order engineering design thinking skills take a longer time to develop than technical skills. For both high school and college first-year students, it is important to enhance their higher-order engineering design thinking skills to promote higher engineering design performance. Moreover, high school students could be provided with convenient processing tools and easy-to-use, hands-on techniques to increase their technical skills. Educators from institutions of higher education and K-12 schools should work together to develop pedagogical models that provide rigorous, well-rounded education and outstanding engineering design instructions to most effectively cultivate STEM talent.

The purpose of this study was to determine the preferences of High School and Vocational students to join college. The research method used was a quantitative descriptive while data analysis was based on Relative Percentage Frequency. The results showed that the interest of the high school and vocational students to proceed to college was in the high category. The number of vocational students interested in advancing their education are higher than high school students. In engineering, high school students have a higher interest than vocational. The study shows that student preferences in choosing the field of expertise and study programs in college differ.

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States among women. Each year approximately 200,000 new cases are reported and 40,000 women succumb to the disease. Early detection and treatment results in good prognosis and higher rates of patient survival; however, despite advanced methods of screening, breast cancer is often detected at an advanced stage when it has metastasized to other organs, particularly in younger, premenopausal patients who typically have a poor understanding of the disease. While educational activities meant to promote breast cancer awareness among women are conducted every year in the USA, especially during the month of October, previous studies show a widespread ignorance of the disease, in both the USA and in women around the world. At present there are no programs in place that specifically promote breast cancer awareness among high school and college students. Such programs would potentially engender the adoption and development of health habits likely to lead to early detection and treatment, including regular screenings and effective self-examination. The main goal of this study was to investigate breast cancer awareness among college and high school students. We used self-administered questionnaires to assess breast cancer perceptions and misconceptions, awareness of risk factors and understanding of breast self-examination. A total of 355 high school students and 132 college students in a Mid-Western area of the USA participated in the study. Our findings were in accordance with previous studies carried out in other regions of the world, showing that a high proportion of students at both high school and college level were largely ignorant of the risk factors associated with breast cancer. Furthermore, a number of misconceptions regarding the disease were common. Only 66% of female college students and 40% of female high school students reported having ever received information on breast self-examination. Interestingly, only half the students who had received instruction reported that they could perform breast self-examination with confidence. Most of the participants however, expressed an eagerness to have more information provided in schools. Consequently we strongly urge the adoption of more breast cancer awareness programs targeting college and high school students. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4460. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-4460