The tobacco industry is important to the economy. In 1991, worldwide tobacco sales exceeded $59. 8 billion and in 1992 the industry was rated as one of the top one hundred advertisers (Pechmann and Ratneshwar, 1994). However, there are high prices to pay – socially, economically, and personally – as a result of this industry. Annual mortality figures indicate that cigarette smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States. An estimated 390,000 people die each year of smoke related illnesses, which is greater than the combined mortality for cocaine, crack, AIDS, homicide, suicide, and alcohol abuse (Botvin, G.
Baker, Botvin, E. , Dusenbury, Cardwell, and Diaz, 1993). This paper will review research which suggests that social influences on smoking occur as a result of several external factors that adolescents face on a daily basis – parental factors, peer pressure, and advertising. Many current and past smokers began experimentation and use during their adolescent years. Social influence is a central component of all models of adolescent substance abuse. It is assumed to be a direct predictor of experimentation and initiation with cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana.
One of the major theories that is used to describe this phenomenon is the social control theory. This theory describes bonding factors, such as involvement, family attachment, job or education commitment, and belief in conventional social norms and values. Involvement refers to the idea that individuals who are deeply involved in non deviant activities lack the time to get involved in deviant acts. Attachment to others who value positive norms tends to decrease the likelihood of deviation from the norms as a direct result of the opinions expressed by others.
Those with positive work and educational ethics are less likely to deviate as well as long as their commitment is related to conformity of social norms. Belief refers to the notion that persons who agree to social norms feel it appropriate to abide by them. Thus, they are less likely to engage in deviant behavior. They all have been found to have either a negative or positive influential effect (DeFronzo and Pawlak, 1993). To illustrate, several studies have identified social controls whose absence has caused adolescents to experiment and initiate in tobacco use.
Starting at home, the influence of parental attitude and behavior toward adolescent smoking has a major impact on adolescent smoking. Newman and Ward (1989) sampled 735 students from 12 schools in and around one moderately sized Midwestern city, 18. 5% of the sample were smokers. In this study, Newman & Ward asked the students questions via a questionnaire in order to rate the parental attitudes. One question asked was, “With regards to my smoking cigarettes, my parents/guardian would: threaten to punish me if I smoked; haven’t told me how they feel if I smoke? ; have told me they don’t care if I smoke” (Newman and Ward, 1989, p. 150).
Two-thirds of the students reported that both parents would be upset if they smoked. An interesting note was that about two-thirds of the nonsmoking adolescents reported parental disapproval versus one-half of the smoking adolescents. The analysis of the data revealed that when neither parent smoked and both disapproved of it, about 10 percent of their adolescents smoked. When the attitude toward smoking was held constant, but both parents were smokers, the percentage of adolescent smoking almost doubled. When neither parent smoked and had indifferent attitudes toward adolescent smoking, almost 20 percent of their adolescents smoked.
Again, when the attitudes were held constant and both parents smoked, approximately 30 percent of their adolescents smoked. These results suggest two important points according to Newman and Ward (1989). First, parental attitude, when expressed, appears to be important in moderating adolescent smoking behavior regardless of the parents’ smoking habits. However, since many parents are unable to tell their children not to smoke when they themselves smoke, adolescents will not feel any influential pressures against smoking and thus, the smoking rates might increase. Second, there is an apparent increase in permissiveness of parents.