title: Young women as smokers and nonsmokers: a qualitative social identity approach.
abstract: The authors used a social identity perspective to explore young women's perceptions of smoking. They carried out 13 focus groups and 6 intercept interviews with women aged 16 to 28 years in regards to the social identities that might influence young women's smoking behavior. Three identities emerged: the cool smoker applied to the initiation of smoking; considerate smokers, who were older addicted smokers; and the actual and anticipated good mother identity, which applied to young women who quit smoking during pregnancy. These identities add to our understanding of the meaning of smoking within the lives of young women and might allow more focused initiatives with this group to prevent the progression to regular addicted smoking.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety, Queensland University of Technology, Carseldine, Australia.
authors.forename: Alexia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lennon
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gallois
authors.forename: Neville
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.forename: Liane
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McDermott
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009042:Motivation; D010379:Peer Group; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*; D012933:Social Identification; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology*