A repeated measures, control group design compared skills-building with attitude modification approaches to prevent cigarette smoking of 234 sixth graders. Subjects in a skills-building condition, more than those in an attitude modification condition or in a control condition, had better posttest scores on cognitive and interpersonal precursors of nonsmoking. Greater pretest to posttest changes in cigarette use were reported for attitude modification condition subjects than for skills-building and control condition subjects. Compared with attitude modification and control condition subjects, skills-building condition subjects had lower reported increases in cigarette use from posttest to 6 months and from 6 to 12 months.