Social influences on adolescent’s smoking process: a longitudinal analysis

The purpose of this study was to examine social factors that predicted adolescent smoking transition from non-smoking or experimental smoking to more advanced stages of smoking behavior during a three-year span. A national cohort sample of adolescents (N=7,960) who participated in the 1989 and 1993 Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey (TAPS I and TAPS II, respectively) was used for this study. The information obtained from this survey included measures of smoking behavior and a series of factors related to smoking models in the respondents' social environment. Results showed that the smoking behavior of best friends was the only consistent and significant factor in predicting adolescent smoking progress to more advanced stages of acquisition. Overall, the ability of social factors to predict adolescent smoking progress was weak. The findings of this study did not support the concept of the social learning theory in adolescent smoking behavior