PSYCHOSOCIAL CORRELATES OF ADOLESCENT CIGARETTE-SMOKING - PERSONALITYOR ENVIRONMENT

Adolescent cigarette smoking is a problem of increasing magnitude in t he Australian population, and programs based on psychological strategi es designed to prevent the onset of smoking among adolescents have bee n universally disappointing in their capacity to achieve this outcome. Much of the blame for this may be attributed to a failure to comprehe nsively understand the psychosocial factors leading to the discretiona ry human behaviour of smoking. This study investigated a combination o f such psychosocial factors in relation both to present adolescent smo king behaviour and to future intentions of adolescents to smoke. Data were collected from a large and representative sample of Australian ad olescents attending high schools and secondary colleges in three Austr alian cities. The findings suggest that social context is a stronger c orrelate of both present and future intended adolescent smoking than i s personality, though there are sex differences in the data which caut ion against the view that a single set of psychosocial variables is un iversally associated with smoking behaviour in all adolescents. Moreov er, the data suggest that self-reported future intention to smoke is a n unreliable indicator of smoking behaviour in the future. The results are discussed with particular reference to their potential to guide p sychological strategies for adolescent smoking prevention.