Late adolescent female smoking

Although there have been intense efforts to reduce the prevalence of cigare tte smoking in the past three decades, smoking continues to be a critical p ublic health problem. An area of particular concern is the increasing numbe r of young women who are smoking. Gender specific research usually does not examine factors affecting smoking behaviours. Information on late adolesce nt female smoking is not readily found in the literature. The aims of this study were to explore the smoking patterns and processes of late adolescent females and to explore factors which may or may not be helpful in assistin g them to stop smoking. A qualitative ethnographic approach was used to unc over the perceptions of 25 adolescent girls of their behaviour. Data were c ollected using tape-recorded semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire . Items for the questionnaire were derived from the Manitoba Youth Smoking Survey and from the Fagerstrorn Nicotine Tolerance Scale. Qualitative analy sis resulted in four stories about smoking: the start story, the smoking st ory, the quit story, and the looking to the future story. Although many of the findings are congruent with the existing literature, much of the data r eflected the purposive nature of smoking in late adolescent girls. Study fi ndings support the need for holistic approaches to health promotion to amel iorate factors affecting smoking behaviour.