Measuring adolescent smoking expectancies by incorporating judgments about the expected time of occurrence of smoking outcomes.

Abstract

French and English Canadian adolescents completed a smoking expectancy questionnaire and 2 measures of current smoking status. Multiple regression revealed that beliefs about the expected time of occurrence of smoking outcomes explained unique variance in current smoking after controlling for judgments about the probability and desirability of these outcomes. In addition, the relationship between the perceived probability of the general costs of smoking and current smoking was moderated by beliefs about the expected time of occurrence of these costs. There was no relationship between perceived probability of general costs and smoking for adolescents who expected the costs to occur far in the future, whereas there was a significant negative relationship between these 2 variables for adolescents who expected the costs to occur soon after smoking. The authors' results suggest that it may be possible to increase the concurrent validity of traditional smoking expectancy measures by incorporating expected-time-ofoccurrence judgments.

An Integrated Framework for the Analysis of Adolescent Cigarette Smoking in Middle School Latino Youth

“…A large body of literature supports the important relationship that expectancies play in adolescent smoking behavior. For example, studies have shown adolescents' smoking-related expectancies are related to both their smoking intention (Bauman & Chenoweth, 1984;Robinson & Klesges, 1997) and to their smoking behavior (Hine, Tilleczek, Lewko, McKenzie-Richer, & Perreault, 2005;Mayhew et al, 2000). Similar findings have been observed in studies of Latino youth, with positive outcome expectancies (Spruijt-Metz, Gallaher, Unger, & Anderson-Johnson, 2004Unger at al., 2000), negative outcome expectancies (Unger et al, 2000), and attitudinal beliefs (Elder et al, 2000) being related to smoking behaviors and intentions.…”

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Subtype Differentially Predicts Smoking Expectancies in Adolescents

“…Relatedly, without temporal data, we cannot establish that smoking expectancies in ADHD adolescents will necessarily lead to smoking initiation. However, smoking expectancies are considered a robust predictor of eventual smoking behavior [11,13]. Future research should use a longitudinal design to examine dynamic trajectories of ADHD symptoms, smoking precursors (i.e., expectancies), and early smoking behavior milestones (i.e., puff, inhalation, whole cigarette [35]).…”

“…These intervening cognitions refer to one's anticipation of a systematic relationship between the event and expected outcome [10]. According to the widely accepted Expectancy Mediation Hypothesis, expectancies may be a proximal cause of behavior and may mediate distal effects [11]. Some experimental evidence supports a causal role, as laboratory manipulation of expectancies has led to behavior change [12].…”

Development and validation of the Smoking Expectancy Scale for Adolescents.

“…Expected consequences of smoking cigarettes were assessed using 43 items (see the Appendix). Most of the items were taken directly from a 50-item smoking expectancy measure previously used by Hine et al (2002Hine et al ( , 2005. This original scale was developed from semistructured and open-ended interviews with 20 smokers and 20 nonsmokers, ages 12 to 18.…”