Challenges to the peer influence paradigm: results for 12–13 year olds from six European countries from the European Smoking Prevention Framework Approach study

Abstract

Objective:To examine whether smoking onset in young adolescents is predicted by peer or parental smoking.Design:Longitudinal design with one pretest and one follow-up at 12 months.Setting:Schools in Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal.Participants:7102 randomly selected adolescents from six countries. Mean age was 12.78 years.Main outcome measures:Smoking behaviour of adolescents, peers and parents.Results:No support was found for peer smoking as an important predictor of smoking onset in most countries. Support was found for the selection paradigm, implying that adolescents choose friends with similar smoking behaviour. Support for the impact of parents on adolescent behaviour and the choice of friends was also found.Conclusions:Smoking uptake in this age cohort may be more strongly influenced by personal and parental influences than initially believed. Hence, social inoculation programmes teaching youngsters to resist the pressures to smoke may be less appropriate if youngsters have a positive attitude towards smoking, associate smoking with various advantages and look for peers with similar values. For this group attitudes towards smoking may thus guide future friend selection.

Smoking by family members and friends and electroniccigarette use in adolescence: A systematic review and metaanalysis

“…When family influence is compared to that of friends, the estimates from our study indicate that the influence of friends is stronger. Similar findings have been reported in a previous study, and a possible explanation is that peer influence on smoking behaviors appears to be more important during adolescence 15,24 . Besides, a recent Finnish study suggested that the most common source for e-cigarettes was friends, which may also partly explain the observed stronger influence of friends 13 .…”

“…Besides, a recent Finnish study suggested that the most common source for e-cigarettes was friends, which may also partly explain the observed stronger influence of friends 13 . However, considering that adolescent smokers choose friends with similar smoking behaviors 24 , the peer influence in dual users (i.e. those who use cigarettes and e-cigarettes) should be interpreted with caution, and further longitudinal studies with nonsmoking adolescents are warranted to examine this proposition.…”

Smoking outcome expectancies mediate the association between sensation seeking, peer smoking, and smoking among young adolescents

“…Two main mechanisms can explain peer infl uence, namely peer pressure and peer selection ( Hoffman, Monge, Chou, & Valente, 2007 ). Individual characteristics, like sensation seeking, might determine the selection of friends, who then provide a peer context that may or may not encourage smoking experimentation ( Arnett, 2007 ;de Vries, Candel, Engels, & Mercken, 2006 ) or may convey the reinforcement expectancies. The present study and other studies support that perceived peer smoking mediates between sensation seeking and smoking ( Wills et al, 1998 ;Yanovitzky, 2005 ).…”

Educational attainment and cigarette smoking: a causal association?

“…Relevant aspects of the school environment that could contribute to the development of smoking include school smoking policies, affiliation with deviant peers, and economic status. 61,62 Evidence that smokers have shortened educational careers raises the possibility of a reciprocal effect of educational achievements and smoking behaviours over time. 63,64 Inequalities in smoking by educational attainment are a major contributor to educational inequalities in mortality.…”