title: Factors promoting cigarette smoking among black youth: a causal modeling approach.
abstract: A longitudinal model of Black adolescent smoking was tested using 223 seventh-grade students attending public schools in northern New Jersey. Interpersonal and intrapersonal factors were hypothesized to have an impact on Black seventh graders' decision to smoke. After conducting an exploratory Principal Factor Analysis (PFA) using a varimax rotation with the Time 1 data, a structural equation model was developed and refined through successive iterations. The final model revealed friends' smoking to be the most significant predictor of Black adolescent smoking at Time 1, but perceived smoking norms and intrapersonal factors such as decision making, self-efficacy, and self-esteem at home and at school exerted an important influence on smoking at Time 2. These results suggest that social influence factors may be important early in the smoking initiation process, but factors such as perceived smoking norms and intrapersonal factors may play an important role in maintaining the smoking habit in Black adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Prevention Research, Cornell University Medical College, New York, NY.
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Botvin
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Botvin
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dusenbury
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cardwell
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Diaz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010379:Peer Group; D012649:Self Concept; D012801:Sibling Relations; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D012931:Social Environment; D012945:Social Values