The Recruitment of New Smokers by Adolescents

Abstract

This study investigated predictors of recruiting others to smoke among 273 seventh graders who had smoked at least once. Almost half (44%) of the 273 students had either offered a cigarette to a friend, made fun of a nonsmoker, or encouraged a friend to smoke during the previous year. Significant predictors of recruitment included self-described smoking status, best friend (same sex) smokes, perceived positive consequences of smoking, number of same-sex friends who smoke, perceived negative consequences of smoking, perceived benefits of quitting smoking, and self-reported alcohol use. Together, the significant variables predicted 34% of the variance in self-reported recruitment. Implications for reducing adolescent smoking are discussed.