On the Importance of Peer Influence for Adolescent Nicotine Use

Abstract

BACKGROUND Peers, smoking parents, and media are the sources of social pressure having an overriding influence on adolescents to begin smoking. Drug behaviour of adolescents is highly affected by peer influence. Although adolescent drug use is assumed to begin in response to peer group influence, peer groups have not been measured sufficiently in studies of drug behaviour. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study aims to measure nicotine use and its relationship with peer pressure in a cross-sectional study on high school children in Hoskote, Karnataka, India. 294 students were selected from a local high school for completing the Resistance to Peer Influence Scale. RESULTS This study showed that a significant difference existed between males and females regarding nicotine use. Peer pressure is a significant predictor of nicotine use. The relationship between peer pressure and nicotine is not significantly moderated by gender. CONCLUSION Adolescence period is a critical time for problems such as substance abuse. Past studies have discouraged the need to investigate influence of factor such as peer pressure. Hence, this study was designed to determine whether peer pressure influenced substance use among study subjects or not. Accordingly, the current study is guided by the theoretical framework of Jessor's problem-behaviour theory. The study concluded that peer pressure is a significant predictor of nicotine use.