Youth tobacco control research and activities in the United States: The current national landscape

This paper highlights the increasing level of collaboration, resource sharing, and consensus building in youth tobacco control taking place in the United States. Better knowledge of the current research, activities, and collaborations in this area will help in the planning of activities and the rational allocation of funds for tobacco control programs, research, advocacy, and counter-advertising initiatives. We defined three general classifications for organizations that had national youth tobacco control activities: Government centers and institutes, nongovernment organizations, and bridging organizations. We asked national experts in our own organization and at all other included organizations to suggest additional groups for inclusion. After gathering available public information on each organization from Web sites and printed materials, we then solicited additional information by personal communication with individuals in leadership positions for youth tobacco control within each group. We developed a uniform framework to present a clear picture of each group in the areas of institutional conception, general goals, youth tobacco control research, and youth tobacco control activities. We identified 16 organizations that met the selection criteria. This paper contains an overview of each institution and its youth tobacco control research and activities. The tables provide a helpful reference guide presenting the institutional conception, goals, funding for research, activities, and Web sites for the institutions and organizations discussed here. Many groups have current youth tobacco control priorities in the United States. This synthesis of current research, funding sources, programmatic activities, and collaborations in the United States will be a valuable resource for clinicians, tobacco control advocates, researchers, and program planners.