Influence of Subjective Social Status on the Relationship Between Positive Outcome Expectations and Experimentation with Cigarettes

Abstract

Purpose-In Texas, Mexican American (MA) adolescents, and in particular boys, are at increased risk of experimenting with cigarettes compared to their black or white counterparts. Positive outcome expectations (POE), the functional social significance ascribed to cigarettes, and subjective social status (SSS), the adolescents' subjective views of where they lie in the school-based social hierarchy, are independent predictors of smoking. The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that SSS moderates the relationship between POE and experimentation with cigarettes.Methods-Moderating effects of SSS were examined using a between-subjects 2 by 2 ANOVA and unconditional logistic regression analyses. Using a prospective study design, we followed 1,142 MA adolescents aged 11 to 13. Participants completed a baseline survey at home, which assessed POE, SSS, and smoking and were followed via telephone at 6 monthly intervals over a 12 month period to assess changes in smoking behavior.Results-At follow-up, there were 99 new experimenters. Consistent with our hypothesis, adolescents who reported moderate-low SSS and who held POE at baseline were more likely to have experimented with cigarettes at either follow-up than their peers with moderate-low SSS who held less POE (OR=1.92, CI: 1.02-3.58). There was no association between outcome expectations and experimenting among adolescents with high SSS (OR=1.79, CI: 0.73-4.36). Low SSS boys were more likely to experiment than girls and high SSS boys.Conclusions-The results of this study indicate that adolescents with moderate-low SSS hold different outcome expectations about smoking than their higher SSS peers. The results underscore the possibility that moderate-low SSS adolescents view behaviors such as smoking as a way to achieve higher SSS and thereby increase their peer social standing. Our results suggest that, in addition to tailoring intervention efforts by gender, placing adolescents of similar social standing to one another within the school into intervention groups that are led by a peer-nominated peer may increase the overall effectiveness of these peer-led prevention efforts.Corresponding author and reprint requests to:

Exposure to Pro-tobacco Messages and Smoking Status Among Mexican Origin Youth

“…It is important to note that these findings held even when we controlled for several risk factors associated with cigarette experimentation, including positive outcome expectations (Dalton et al, 1999; Spelman et al, 2009), subjective social status (Finkelstein, Kubzansky, & Goodman, 2006; Wilkinson, Shete et al, 2009), peer influence (U.S. DHHS, 2012; Wilkinson, Spitz et al, 2009) and family influence (Chalela, Velez, & Ramirez, 2007; Spelman et al, 2009), and sensation seeking tendencies (Adachi-Mejia, Carlos, Berke, Tanski, & Sargent, 2012; Wilkinson et al, 2012).…”

Identifying demographic and psychosocial factors related to the escalation of smoking behavior among Mexican American adolescents

“…49 If these adolescents believe that they are in worse standing than others, then they might be more inclined to smoke, especially if they think it will raise their social status to their peers’ level. 17 We also found that adolescents who think that they are going to smoke in the future were more likely to escalate. This finding really exemplifies the strength of the favorable attitudes toward smoking in affecting actual smoking behavior.…”

“…13–16 Our group has focused on identifying risk factors for smoking experimentation and initiation among the Mexican heritage population in the United States. We have found that that low to moderate subjective social status combined with holding positive outcome expectations for smoking resulted in higher risk of adolescent experimentation 17 and that family conflict is associated with an increased risk for adolescent smoking while family cohesion decreases the risk. 18 Increased levels of anxiety, 19 age, sex, cognitive susceptibility, peer influence, and household smoking behavior were all associated with smoking experimentation as well.…”

A Risk Prediction Model for Smoking Experimentation in Mexican American Youth

“…Positive outcome expectations(14, 15, 20, 22, 23), household smoking(14–17), neighborhood characteristics(52), anxiety and depression(25, 53), and school suspensions(54)have also been shown to be associated with smoking experimentation in several studies. Our study also found that family cohesion, co-worker smoking status, and acculturation were associated with smoking experimentation.…”