RESEARCH PAPER
Normative influences on intentions to smoke among Greek adolescents: the moderating role of smoking status
| 1 | Psychology Department, International Faculty of the University of Sheffield, CITY College, Thessaloniki, Greece |
| 2 | South-East European Research Centre (SEERC), Thessaloniki, Greece |
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Lambros Lazuras
Psychology Department, International Faculty of the University of Sheffield, CITY College, Thessaloniki, Greece
Psychology Department, International Faculty of the University of Sheffield, CITY College, Thessaloniki, Greece
Publication date: 2014-03-26
Tobacco Induced Diseases 2014;12(March):5
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Background:
Social norms influence adolescent smoking intentions, but this effect may differentiate depending on current smoking experiences. The presented study assessed the moderation effects of smoking status on the relationship between social norms and smoking intentions among Greek adolescents.
Methods:
A cross-section survey-based design was used. Overall, 251 Greek secondary school students (M age = 16.1 years, 61.2% females) completed structured and anonymous questionnaires including demographic characteristics (age, gender), subjective and descriptive social norms towards smoking, self-reported tobacco use, and intentions to smoke in the next 12 months.
Results:
Linear regression analysis showed that social norms overall predicted 36.4% (Adjusted R2) of the variance in intentions. Perceived prevalence of smoking in same age peers and adults, having more close friends who smoke and perceived social approval of smoking predicted intentions to smoke in one year. Moderated regression analysis showed that the effects of social norms on smoking intentions were significantly moderated by smoking status.
Conclusions:
Social norms predict smoking intentions, but this effect is stronger among ever (than never) smoker adolescents. Adolescents with smoking experiences may selectively attend to pro-smoking social cues and this perpetuates into their motivation to keep up the habit. School-based interventions should target normative beliefs and related cognitive processes, especially among adolescents who have already initiated tobacco use.
Social norms influence adolescent smoking intentions, but this effect may differentiate depending on current smoking experiences. The presented study assessed the moderation effects of smoking status on the relationship between social norms and smoking intentions among Greek adolescents.
Methods:
A cross-section survey-based design was used. Overall, 251 Greek secondary school students (M age = 16.1 years, 61.2% females) completed structured and anonymous questionnaires including demographic characteristics (age, gender), subjective and descriptive social norms towards smoking, self-reported tobacco use, and intentions to smoke in the next 12 months.
Results:
Linear regression analysis showed that social norms overall predicted 36.4% (Adjusted R2) of the variance in intentions. Perceived prevalence of smoking in same age peers and adults, having more close friends who smoke and perceived social approval of smoking predicted intentions to smoke in one year. Moderated regression analysis showed that the effects of social norms on smoking intentions were significantly moderated by smoking status.
Conclusions:
Social norms predict smoking intentions, but this effect is stronger among ever (than never) smoker adolescents. Adolescents with smoking experiences may selectively attend to pro-smoking social cues and this perpetuates into their motivation to keep up the habit. School-based interventions should target normative beliefs and related cognitive processes, especially among adolescents who have already initiated tobacco use.
REFERENCES (36)
1.
Davis RM, Wakefield M, Amos A, Gupta PC: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Tobacco Control: a global assessment of harms, remedies, and controversies. Annu Rev Public Health. 2007, 28: 171-194. 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.28.021406.144033.
2.
Tyas SL, Pederson LL: Psychosocial factors related to adolescent smoking: a critical review of the literature. Tob Control. 1998, 7: 409-420. 10.1136/tc.7.4.409.
3.
Simons-Morton B, Chen RS: Over time relationships between early adolescent and peer substance use. Addict Behav. 2006, 31: 1211-1223. 10.1016/j.addbeh.2005.09.006.
4.
Simons-Morton BG, Ouimet MC, Chen R, Klauer SG, Lee SE, Wang J, Dingus TA: Peer influence predicts speeding prevalence among teenage drivers. J Safety Res. 2012, 43: 397-403. 10.1016/j.jsr.2012.10.002.
5.
Steinberg L: Risk taking in adolescence: what changes, and why?. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2004, 1021: 51-58. 10.1196/annals.1308.005.
6.
Steinberg L: A social neuroscience perspective on adolescent risk-taking. Dev Rev. 2008, 28: 78-106. 10.1016/j.dr.2007.08.002.
7.
Albert D, Chein J, Steinberg L: The teenage brain: peer influences on adolescent decision making. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2013, 22: 114-120. 10.1177/0963721412471347.
8.
Chein J, Albert D, O’Brien L, Uckert K, Steinberg L: Peers increase adolescent risk taking by enhancing activity in the brain’s reward circuitry. Dev Sci. 2011, 14: 1-10. 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00949.x.
9.
Rivis A, Sheeran P: Social influences and the theory of planned behaviour: evidence for a direct relationship between prototypes and young people’s exercise behaviour. Psychol Health. 2003, 18: 567-583. 10.1080/0887044032000069883.
11.
Lai MK, Ho SY, Lam TH: Perceived peer smoking prevalence and its association with smoking behaviours and intentions in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. Addiction. 2004, 99: 1195-1205. 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2004.00797.x.
12.
Unger JB, Rohrbach LA: Why do adolescents overestimate their peers’ smoking prevalence? Correlates of prevalence estimates among California 8th grade students. J Youth Adolesc. 2002, 31: 147-153. 10.1023/A:1014074027415.
13.
Wiium N, Torsheim T, Wold B: Normative processes and adolescents’ smoking behaviour in Norway: a multilevel analysis. Soc Sci Med. 2006, 62: 1810-1818. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.08.029.
14.
Van de Ven MOM, Greenwood PA, Engels RCME, Olsson CA, Patton CC: Patterns of adolescent smoking and later nicotine dependence in young adults: a 10-year prospective study. Public Health. 2010, 124: 65-70. 10.1016/j.puhe.2009.11.009.
15.
Harris PR, Epton T: The impact of self‒affirmation on health cognition, health behaviour and other health‒related responses: a narrative review. Soc Person Psychol Compass. 2009, 3: 962-978. 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00233.x.
16.
Dillard AJ, McCaul KD, Klein WM: Unrealistic optimism in smokers: implications for smoking myth endorsement and self-protective motivation. J Health Commun. 2006, 11 (Suppl 1): 93-102.
17.
Weinstein ND, Marcus SE, Moser RP: Smokers’ unrealistic optimism about their risk. Tob Control. 2005, 14: 55-59. 10.1136/tc.2004.008375.
18.
Otten R, Engels RC, Prinstein MJ: A prospective study of perception in adolescent smoking. J Adolesc Health. 2009, 44: 478-484. 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.09.004.
19.
Sussman S, Dent CW, Mestel-Rauch J, Johnson CA: Adolescent non-smokers, triers, and regular smokers’ estimates of cigarette smoking prevalence: when do overestimations occur and by whom?. J Appl Soc Psychol. 1988, 18: 537-551. 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1988.tb00035.x.
20.
Lazuras L, Rodafinos A, Panagiotakos DB, Thyrian JR, John U, Polychronopoulos E: Support for smoke-free policies in a pro-smoking culture: findings from the European survey on tobacco control attitudes and knowledge. Int J Public Health. 2009, 54: 403-408. 10.1007/s00038-009-0074-2.
21.
Lazuras L, Rodafinos A, Eiser JR: Adolescents’ support for smoke-free public settings: the roles of social norms and beliefs about exposure to secondhand smoke. J Adolesc Health. 2011, 49: 70-75. 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.10.013.
22.
Lazuras L, Eiser JR, Rodafinos A: Predicting Greek adolescents’ intentions to smoke: a focus on normative processes. Health Psychol. 2009, 28: 770-778.
23.
Filippidis FT, Vardavas CI, Loukopoulou A, Behrakis P, Connolly GN, Tountas Y: Prevalence and determinants of tobacco use among adults in Greece: 4 year trends. Eur J Public Health. 2013, 23: 772-776. 10.1093/eurpub/cks148.
24.
Zourbanos N, Dimitriou E, Goudas M, Theodorakis Y: Reliability and validity of the Greek version of the smoking self-efficacy scale for adolescents. Eval Health Prof. 2014, doi:0163278713520450.
25.
Aspropoulos E, Lazuras L, Rodafinos A, Eiser JR: Can you please put it out? Predicting non-smokers’ assertiveness intentions at work. Tob Control. 2010, 19: 148-152. 10.1136/tc.2009.031161.
26.
Vardavas CI, Athanasopoulos D, Balomenaki E, Niaounaki D, Linardakis MK, Kafatos AG: Smoking habits of Greek preschool children’s parents. BMC Public Health. 2007, 7: 112-10.1186/1471-2458-7-112.
28.
Aiken LS, West SG: Multiple regression: testing and interpreting interactions. 1991, Newbury Park: Sage.
29.
Guo Q, Johnson CA, Unger JB, Lee L, Xie B, Chou CP, Halmer PH, Sun P, Gallaher P, Pentz MA: Utility of the theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behaviour for predicting Chinese adolescent smoking. Addict Behav. 2007, 32: 1066-1081. 10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.07.015.
30.
Hoffman BR, Sussman S, Unger JB, Valente TW: Peer influences on adolescent cigarette smoking: a theoretical review of the literature. Subst Use Misuse. 2006, 41: 103-155. 10.1080/10826080500368892.
31.
Field M, Cox WM: Attentional bias in addictive behaviors: a review of its development, causes, and consequences. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2008, 97: 1-20. 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2008.03.030.
32.
Ross L, Greene D, House P: The “false-consensus effect”: an egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes. J Exp Soc Psychol. 1977, 13: 279-301. 10.1016/0022-1031(77)90049-X.
33.
Wiium N, Wold B: Family and school influences on adolescent smoking behaviour. Health Educ. 2006, 106: 465-479. 10.1108/09654280610711415.
34.
Hill KG, Hawkins JD, Catalano RF, Abbott RD, Guo J: Family influences on the risk of daily smoking initiation. J Adolesc Health. 2005, 37: 202-210. 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2004.08.014.
35.
Clement RW, Krueger J: Social categorization moderates social projection. J Exp Soc Psychol. 2002, 38: 219-231. 10.1006/jesp.2001.1503.
36.
Jones PE: False consensus in social context: differential projection and perceived social distance. Br J Soc Psychol. 2004, 43: 417-429. 10.1348/0144666042038015.
CITATIONS (5):
1.
The expected and unexpected media effects on youth’s (mis)perceptions of peer norms: Chinese college students’ overestimation of peer smoking prevalence
Mena N. Wang, Crystal L. Jiang
Chinese Journal of Communication
Mena N. Wang, Crystal L. Jiang
Chinese Journal of Communication
2.
Adolescent Smoking in Hong Kong: Prevalence, Psychosocial Correlates, and Prevention
Sai Ho, Jianjiu Chen, Lok Leung, Hoi Mok, Lijun Wang, Man Wang, Tai Lam
Journal of Adolescent Health
Sai Ho, Jianjiu Chen, Lok Leung, Hoi Mok, Lijun Wang, Man Wang, Tai Lam
Journal of Adolescent Health
3.
Health risk behaviors among high school and university adolescent students
Christina Tsitsimpikou, Konstantinos Tsarouhas, Fotini Vasilaki, Petros Papalexis, Georgios Dryllis, Athanasios Choursalas, Demetrios Spandidos, Aristides Tsatsakis, Ekaterina Charvalos, Flora Bacopoulou
Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine
Christina Tsitsimpikou, Konstantinos Tsarouhas, Fotini Vasilaki, Petros Papalexis, Georgios Dryllis, Athanasios Choursalas, Demetrios Spandidos, Aristides Tsatsakis, Ekaterina Charvalos, Flora Bacopoulou
Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine
4.
Risk-Taking Behaviors Among Students of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Sajjad Narimani, Mehdi Khezeli, Nasib Babaei, Sama Rezapour, Meisam Habibi, Zahra Rohallahzadeh
Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Sajjad Narimani, Mehdi Khezeli, Nasib Babaei, Sama Rezapour, Meisam Habibi, Zahra Rohallahzadeh
Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
5.
Associations between obesity, adverse behavioral patterns and cardiovascular risk factors among adolescent inhabitants of a Greek island
Anastasia Garoufi, Evangelos Grammatikos, Anastasios Kollias, Emmanuel Grammatikos, George Stergiou, Alexandra Soldatou
Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism
Anastasia Garoufi, Evangelos Grammatikos, Anastasios Kollias, Emmanuel Grammatikos, George Stergiou, Alexandra Soldatou
Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism
Related articles
