“Do you intend to smoke?”: A test of the assumed psychological equivalence in adolescent smoker and nonsmoker intention to change smoking behaviour *

Adolescent smoking research appears to assume that asking a question of intention to smoke is psychologically equivalent for smokers and nonsmokers, despite the result that the two groups differ in psychologically important ways. The aim of the paper was to clarify whether the intention to smoke for adolescent nonsmokers is psychologically equivalent to the intention for smokers. Data from a 12-month, three-wave longitudinal study on adolescent smoking in Australia were used. The results showed a model designed to predict nonsmoker intention failed to explain smoker intentions, and that a model for smokers failed in regards to nonsmokers. Further, smoking status influenced the observed relationship between intentions and later behaviour. This suggests that future research on adolescent smoking may need to ask separate questions of smokers and nonsmokers. The results also indicate that more effort is needed to establish intention as a reliable proxy for future smoking behaviour.

[1]  P. Sheeran,et al.  Implementation intentions and repeated behaviour: augmenting the predictive validity of the theory of planned behaviour , 1999 .

[2]  Hart Blanton,et al.  Reasoned action and social reaction: willingness and intention as independent predictors of health risk. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[3]  A. Biglan,et al.  Longitudinal changes in adolescent cigarette smoking behavior: Onset and cessation , 1988, Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

[4]  A. Byrne,et al.  Personality, stress and the decision to commence cigarette smoking in adolescence. , 1995, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[5]  B. Tabachnick,et al.  Using Multivariate Statistics , 1983 .

[6]  J. Graham,et al.  Self-initiated smoking cessation among high school students. , 1985, Addictive behaviors.

[7]  P. Gollwitzer.  Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. , 1999 .

[8]  Paul E. Meehl,et al.  Clinical Versus Statistical Prediction: A Theoretical Analysis and a Review of the Evidence , 1996 .

[9]  R. Engels,et al.  Predictability of smoking in adolescence: between optimism and pessimism. , 1999, Addiction.

[10]  James A. Wolff,et al.  The time interval in the intention–behaviour relationship: Meta-analysis. , 1994 .

[11]  A. Byrne,et al.  Psychosocial Correlates of Adolescent Cigarette Smoking: Personality or Environment , 1993 .

[12]  A. V. Peterson,et al.  Smoking cessation among high school seniors. , 1998, Preventive medicine.

[13]  Charles Abraham,et al.  Scary warnings and rational precautions: A review of the psychology of fear appeals , 2001 .

[14]  D. Byrne,et al.  Self‐esteem, stress and cigarette smoking in adolescents , 2001 .

[15]  W. Stanton,et al.  Prevalence, reliability and bias of adolescents' reports of smoking and quitting. , 1996, Addiction.

[16]  S. Moss,et al.  The Adolescent Risk-Taking Questionnaire , 2000 .

[17]  J. Grove,et al.  Multidimensional self-concept, cigarette smoking, and intentions to smoke in adolescents , 1991 .

[18]  Edward P. Sarafino,et al.  Health Psychology: Biopsychosocial Interactions , 1990 .

[19]  E. Gilpin,et al.  Validation of susceptibility as a predictor of which adolescents take up smoking in the United States. , 1996, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[20]  D. Byrne,et al.  A comparison of predictors of the adolescent intention to smoke with adolescent current smoking using discriminant function analysis. , 2002, British journal of health psychology.

[21]  D. Byrne,et al.  Sources of stress in Australian adolescents: factor structure and stability over time , 2002 .

[22]  D. Byrne,et al.  Adolescent stress and future smoking behaviour: a prospective investigation. , 2003, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[23]  Rex B. Kline,et al.  Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling , 1998 .

[24]  H. de Vries,et al.  Determinants of intention to quit smoking among Dutch employees: the influence of the social environment. , 1996, Preventive medicine.

[25]  D. Byrne,et al.  Prevention of adolescent smoking: A prospective test of three models of intervention , 2005 .

[26]  D. Byrne,et al.  Sources of adolescent stress, smoking and the use of other drugs , 1999 .

[27]  R. West,et al.  Smoking cessation and smoking patterns in the general population: a 1-year follow-up. , 2001, Addiction.