Smoking in college women: The role of thinness pressures, media exposure, and critical consciousness

There are strong social pressures for U.S. females, particularly those of E uropean heritage, to achieve and maintain an extremely low body weight. The se pressures are reflected in a variety of media sources, including adverti sing. We argue that valuing thinness, exposure to thinness-depicting media, and lacking skepticism about tobacco advertisements have adverse effects o n young women's decisions about smoking, particularly smoking for weight co ntrol. We tested these hypotheses in a study of 188 female undergraduates, both never-smokers and daily smokers. Believing that smoking controls weigh t, exposure to thinness-depicting media, and low levels of skepticism about tobacco advertising were associated with being a smoker. Among smokers, be lieving that smoking controls weight, internalizing thinness pressures, and low levels of feminist consciousness were associated with smoking for weig ht control. Results are discussed with the aim of encouraging public health anti-smoking campaigns targeted at women, and smoking cessation programs t hat are responsive to the needs of weight-concerned female smokers.