Choosing to remain smoke-free: The experiences of adolescent girls

Purpose: To develop an understanding of the experiences of nonsmoking girls and determine how these girls avoid smoking. Methods: A grounded theory approach was used to direct the discovery of pro cess(es) that nonsmoking females undertake to remain nonsmokers. Seventeen nonsmoking females between the ages of 13 and 17 years were interviewed usi ng open-ended questions designed by the authors. The interviews were tape-r ecorded and then analyzed using the techniques described by Strauss and Cor bin. Results: The data revealed that the process of remaining a nonsmoker is com posed of three phases: making sense of smoking, rejecting smoking, and decl aring oneself to be a nonsmoker. The process of remaining a nonsmoker appea rs to be rooted in developing self-confidence. As girls rejected smoking, s elf-confidence was boosted because they learned that their choice would be accepted and their strategies were effective in rejecting smoking. Conclusions: The findings of this study offer new insights into the experie nces of adolescent nonsmokers. Our assumption that there is a process that underlies remaining a nonsmoker was supported. The findings suggest that ad olescents use several strategies in this process. These strategies are note worthy because they offer those who work in the field of health promotion n ew insights into ways in which they might contribute to increasing the rank s of nonsmokers. (C) Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2001.