Psychosocial predictors of cigarette smoking among adolescents living in public housing developments

Background-Adolescents residing in low-income public housing developments i n inner-city regions may be particularly vulnerable to a variety of risk fa ctors associated with cigarette smoking. Objective-To elucidate the aetiology of cigarette smoking among adolescents living in public housing developments. Design, setting, and subjects-We examined predictors of smoking from four d omains: background characteristics, social influences, behavioural control, and psychosocial characteristics using a sample of seventh graders (mean a ge 12.9 years) who reside in public housing developments in New York City ( n = 624). The addresses of participants in a larger investigation of the ae tiology and prevention of smoking were checked to determine if they lived i n one of 335 public housing developments in New York City. All participants Living in public housing developments were included in the current study. Main outcome measures-African-American and Hispanic students completed ques tionnaires about their cigarette use, social pressures to smoke, smoking at titudes, smoking knowledge, and smoking resistance skills. Students also pr ovided information on demographic and behavioural control (such as church a nd school attendance). Results-Logistic regression analyses indicated that social influences from friends and family members predicted smoking. Psychosocial characteristics such as advertising resistance skills, anti-smoking attitudes, and refusal skills lowered the odds of smoking. Conclusions-These findings suggest that smoking prevention approaches targe ted at these young people should increase their awareness of social pressur es to smoke, correct misperceptions about the prevalence of smoking among f riends, and teach relevant psychosocial skills.