Subcultural grounding of teenage smoking, drinking and use of drugs

This study attempts to establish whether subcultures play a part in shaping the smoking behavior and other substance use among teenagers. Written questionnaires were administered among teenagers from 30 school classes aged 12 to 16 (N 780). Four hypotheses are tested: we expect (1) that teenagers affiliated with counter-cultural styles will have a more positive attitude towards the use of recreational substances, (2) that they are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, and use soft drugs than members of teenage subcultures which embrace the dominant culture. Also (3) the exchange of cigarettes will be more common in counter-cultural groups than in submissive ones, and (4) teenagers will perceive the different smoking rates in the subcultures according to the actual different rates of tobacco use in these subcultures. Through bi-variate and logistic regression analyses, the research results show that it is very likely that teenage subcultures indeed play a significant role in smoking and other substance (ab)use and that this impact is related to the extent to which these subcultures are counter-culturally oriented. Countercultural teenage groups such as Hiphoppers and Gabbers are relatively more frequent substance users (soft drugs, cigarettes, alcohol) than more parent (dominant)-culture oriented groups such as Normalos, Netjes and Skaters. The watershed is to be found in the counter-cultural use of soft drugs. This seldom studied subcultural dimension of teenage smoking needs to be examined more thoroughly, not only in order to obtain stronger evidence on the matter, but to foster more effective prevention programs aimed at teenagers