EXPECTANCIES AND MENTAL MODELS AS DETERMINANTS OF ADOLESCENTS SMOKINGDECISIONS

Cigarette smoking has been identified as the single most preventable s ource of mortality and morbidity in the United States. Experimentation with tobacco typically begins in adolescence, and smoking during this period is one of the strongest and most consistent predictors of adul t smoking status. In the present paper; we review several prominent de cision models that have been applied to adolescent smoking, and point out important limitations of these models. We then propose a new proce ss-oriented framework of decision-making based on the concept of menta l models, and discuss the implications of this framework for developin g effective smoking prevention and cessation interventions for adolesc ents.