Subtypes within the precontemplation stage of adolescent smoking acquisition.
The present study examined the existence of three possible subtypes within the precontemplation stage of smoking acquisition: committers, immotives, and progressives. The sample of the study included young people from six European countries (mean age = 13 years) who had never smoked regularly (n = 21 535). A cross-sectional design was used to assess cognitive determinants of smoking behavior: attitudes towards smoking, perceived social influences, and self-efficacy to remain a nonsmoker. Adolescents within the various stages of smoking acquisition were compared with regard to standardized T scores on these risk factors. The results showed that adolescents in the three subgroups of precontemplation differed from each other on every cognitive determinant tested, revealing a higher risk to start smoking among progressives than among immotives. Immotives revealed a higher risk to start smoking than committers. It is concluded that the use of subtypes within acquisition precontemplation in research on adolescent smoking may be a promising tool for investigating the initiation continuum and for improving the quality of both the implementation and evaluation of prevention programs.
Kremers
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SP
Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, Maastricht University, Netherlands. s.kremers@gvo.unimaas.nl
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de Vries
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D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires