ERIC Number: EJ809531
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1090-1981
EISSN: N/A
Perceptions of Smoking and Nonsmoking Peers: The Value of Smoker and Nonsmoker Prototypes in Predicting Smoking Onset and Regular Smoking among Adolescents
Spijkerman, Renske; Van Den Eijnden, Regina J. J. M.; Engels, Rutger C. M. E.
Health Education & Behavior, v34 n6 p897-910 2007
Adolescents' perceptions of persons their age who smoke cigarettes (also known as prototypes of smoking peers) play a critical role in an adolescent's decision to start smoking. However, adolescents' perceptions of their peers who do not smoke (prototypes of nonsmoking peers) could be implicated in adolescents' smoking decisions as well. In the present study, the authors examined the additional role of nonsmoker prototypes in adolescents' smoking onset and regular smoking. At seven high schools, Dutch students (n = 1,035) between the ages of 12 and 15 years who were attending the eighth grade provided self-reported data on their smoker and nonsmoker prototypes and smoking behavior during a baseline and 6-month follow-up measurement. Logistic regression analyses showed that both smoker and nonsmoker prototypes assessed at Time 1 predicted smoking onset by Time 2 among nonsmoking adolescents. However, only nonsmoker prototypes predicted regular smoking among adolescents who smoked occasionally at baseline. (Contains 3 tables and 3 notes.)
Descriptors: Smoking, Early Adolescents, Preadolescents, Grade 8, Attitude Measures, Student Attitudes, Foreign Countries, Secondary School Students, Decision Making, Peer Influence, Predictor Variables, Urban Schools, Suburban Schools, Followup Studies, Questionnaires
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 8; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Netherlands
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A