Challenges to the peer influence paradigm: results for 12–13 year olds from six European countries from the European Smoking Prevention Framework Approach study

Abstract

Smoking uptake in this age cohort may be more strongly influenced by personal and parental influences than initially believed. Hence, social inoculation programmes teaching youngsters to resist the pressures to smoke may be less appropriate if youngsters have a positive attitude towards smoking, associate smoking with various advantages and look for peers with similar values. For this group attitudes towards smoking may thus guide future friend selection.