Purpose. To examine the relationships between worksite interpersonal influe
nces and smoking and quitting behavior among adolescent workers.
Design. The cross-sectional survey assessed factors influencing tobacco use
behavior.
Setting. During the fall of 1998, data were collected from 10 grocery store
s in Massachusetts that were owned and managed by the same company.
Subjects. Eligible participants included 474 working adolescents ages 15 to
I8. Eighty-three percent of workers (n = 379) completed the survey.
Measures. The self-report questionnaire assessed social influences, social
norms, social support, friendship networks, stage of smoking and quitting b
ehavior, employment patterns, and demographic factors.
Results. Thirty-five percent of respondents were never smokers, 21% experim
ental, 5% occasional, 18% regular and 23% former smokers. Using analysis of
variance (ANOVA), results indicate that regular smokers were 30% more like
ly than experimental or occasional smokers to report coworker encouragement
to quit (p =.0002). Compared with regular smokers, never. smokers were 15%
move likely to report greater nonacceptability of smoking(p =.01). chi (2)
tests of association revealed no differences in friendship, networks by st
age of smoking:
Conclusions. These data provide evidence for the need to further explore so
cial factors inside and outside the work environment that influence smoking
and quitting behavior among working teens. Interpretations of the data are
limited because of cross-sectional and self-report data collection methods
used in one segment of the retail sector.