Elsevier

Preventive Medicine

Volume 34, Issue 4, April 2002, Pages 476-484
Preventive Medicine

Regular Article
Peer Influences and Access to Cigarettes as Correlates of Adolescent Smoking: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Wuhan, China, and California

https://doi.org/10.1006/pmed.2001.0996Get rights and content

Abstract

Background. Few studies have assessed the effects of access to cigarettes and peer influences on adolescent smoking in non-Western countries. Using samples characterized by two distinct cultural, social, and economic systems, this study evaluated the associations of friends' smoking and perceived access to cigarettes with adolescent smoking behavior in California and Wuhan, China.

Methods. Survey data were obtained from 5870 eighth-grade students in the Independent Evaluation of the California Tobacco Control Program and 6992 seventh- to ninth-grade students in the Wuhan Smoking Prevention Trial. Odds ratios for lifetime and 30-day smoking, according to friends' smoking and perceived access to cigarettes, were calculated for boys and girls in both samples and compared.

Results. California students were more likely than Wuhan students to have friends who smoked and to perceive easy access to cigarettes. The smoking prevalence was lower in Wuhan than in California, mainly due to the low smoking prevalence among Wuhan girls. Friends' smoking was strongly associated with smoking in both samples, and the strength of this association did not differ between the two cultures. Access to cigarettes was associated with a higher risk of lifetime smoking in both cultures and a higher risk of past 30-day smoking in California only.

Conclusions. Despite divergent tobacco control policy enforcement, social structures, and cultural contexts, similarities exist between Wuhan and California. The findings suggest support for adapting a social-influences-based smoking prevention program developed in the United States to the culturally specific needs of youth in Wuhan, China.

References (32)

  • MMWR Surveill Summaries 2000

    (1999)
  • S Sussman et al.

    Developing school-based tobacco use prevention and cessation programs

    (1995)
  • The World Health Organization, World Health Report 1999, Combating the tobacco epidemic, Geneva, Switzerland, World...
  • PM Lantz et al.

    Investing in youth tobacco control: a review of smoking prevention and control strategies

    Tobacco Control

    (2000)
  • Independent Evaluation Consortium, Final report of the independent evaluation of the California Tobacco Control...
  • Cited by (71)

    • Smoking behaviors and intentions among adolescents in rural China: The application of the Theory of Planned Behavior and the role of social influence

      2015, Addictive Behaviors
      Citation Excerpt :

      Social influence is extremely important for adolescents. Having friends who were current smokers was strongly associated with smoking, confirming the important role of peer influences in smoking among adolescents (Flay et al., 1994; Unger et al., 2002). Such effect has also found to be independent from the TPB variables.

    • Psychosocial correlates of cigarette smoking among Asian American and Pacific Islander adolescents

      2013, Addictive Behaviors
      Citation Excerpt :

      Past 30-day cigarette smoking was measured by “During the past 30 days, how many days did you use cigarettes?” Responses were recoded as 0 = “no smoking in the past 30 days” and 1 = “smoked in the past 30 days” (Unger et al., 2002). Variables in this system included attitudes toward smoking (8 items), perceived harm of cigarettes (1 item), and internal assets (18 items, α = .93).

    • Tobacco advertising, environmental smoking bans, and smoking in Chinese urban areas

      2012, Drug and Alcohol Dependence
      Citation Excerpt :

      In this context, smoking may be perceived as a threat to familial health and financial solvency. Family and peer influences have been associated with smoking behavior in China (Unger et al., 2002; Yang et al., 2011). Our findings are confirmatory.

    • The Qingdao twin registry: A status update

      2013, Twin Research and Human Genetics
    View all citing articles on Scopus

    This study was supported by the National Cancer Institute/National Institute of Drug Abuse Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center Grant 1 P50 CA84735-01 awarded to the University of Southern California. Support for the Wuhan Smoking Prevention Trial also was provided by the Wuhan Public Health and Anti-Epidemic Station, the Wuhan Public Health Bureau, and the University of Southern California. California data were collected as part of the Independent Evaluation of the California Tobacco Control, Prevention, and Education Program, with funds received from the Tobacco Tax Health Protection Act of 1988-Proposition 99, under Grant 95-22998, with the California Department of Health Services, Tobacco Control Section. The analyses, interpretations, and conclusions reached in this paper are those of the authors, not the California Department of Health Services or the Wuhan government.

    2

    To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed at USC Institute for Prevention Research, 1000 S. Fremont, Box 8, Alhambra, CA. Fax: (626) 457-4012. E-mail: [email protected].

    View full text