“I Smoke but I Am Not a Smoker”: Phantom Smokers and the Discrepancy Between Self-identity and Behavior

Abstract

Objective: This article presents the development of a new smoking status, the “phantom smokers,” who do not view themselves as smokers but report smoking cigarettes. Participants: Students from 2 universities in Michigan (N = 899; October 2005) and Florida (N = 1,517; May 2006) participated in surveys. Methods: Respondents in Michigan completed measures regarding smoking status and tobacco use, and respondents in Florida completed measures regarding smoking status, tobacco use, smoking consequences, and norms. Results: The studies identify the incidence of phantom smokers (29.6% in Michigan and 5.5% in Florida). Different questions resulted in different smoking rates. Phantom smokers expect more negative affect reduction and social facilitation from smoking than nonsmokers. Phantom smokers display ambivalent attitudes toward a typical smoker's image. They experience less pressure to change their smoking behavior than smokers. Conclusion: Phantom smokers’ dissociation from smokers should be recognized and targeted as a distinct group for antismoking messages.

Keywords:

• attitudes toward smoking
• college health
• college students’ smoking
• phantom smoker
• smokers

Notes

***p < .001.

***p < .001.

^aNot all nonsmokers responded to NAR and SF questions, reducing the sample size of nonsmokers. More than half of the nonsmokers could not estimate the likelihood of having NAR and SF from smoking.

^bSignificant difference between nonsmoker and phantom smoker.

^cSignificant difference between nonsmoker and smoker.

^dSignificant difference between phantom smoker and smoker; all p < .05.

***p < .001.

***p < .001.

^aNot all nonsmokers responded to the dependent variable questions, reducing the sample size of nonsmokers.

^bSignificant difference between nonsmoker and phantom smoker.

^cSignificant difference between nonsmoker and smoker.

^dSignificant difference between phantom smoker and smoker; all p < .05.

***p < .001.