title: Social modeling in the school environment, student characteristics, and smoking susceptibility: a multi-level analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine how social models in the school environment and individual student characteristics are related to smoking susceptibility.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using data from the School Smoking Profile Project, multi-level logistic regression analysis was used to identify school and student characteristics related to smoking susceptibility among 6679 never smokers from 29 secondary schools in Ontario, Canada.
  
  
  RESULTS
  If a nonsmoking student attended a school where there was student smoking on the school periphery, he or she was less likely to be susceptible to smoking (OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.57-0.89). A significant contextual interaction between the smoking on the school periphery and friends' disapproval of smoking was identified (beta = 0.68 [0.23], p < .01]; students with friends who disapprove of smoking were more likely to be susceptible to smoking if they attended a school with student smoking on the school periphery.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nonsmoking students who attend a school with student smoking on the school periphery are at an increased risk for being susceptible to smoking if they have friends who disapprove of smoking. Future school-based smoking prevention programs might benefit from targeting both individual students and entire schools with programming activities.
authors.affiliation: Division of Preventive Oncology, Cancer Care Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. scott.leatherdale@cancercare.on.ca
authors.forename: Scott T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Leatherdale
authors.forename: K Stephen
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.forename: Paul W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: McDonald
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*