Peer pressure to smoke: the meaning depends on the method

This paper is concerned with the meaning and the processes of peer pressure in relation to smoking behaviour amongst pre-adolescent and adolescent pupils. Previous research suggests that children who smoke cause their non-smoking peers to take up the habit through strategies such as coercion, teasing, bullying and rejection from a desired group. In this study different methods elicited different accounts of initial smoking situations from the same pupils. While role-play elicited stereotypical scenes of coercion and bullying, results from a self-complete questionnaire and focus groups conflicted with these accounts and suggested that the process was more complex and included strong elements of self-determined behaviour. This study highlights the problems of using a single research method to understand complex processes. Results suggest that individuals play a more active role in starting to smoke than has previously been acknowledged and that social processes other than peer pressure need to be taken into account. Possible implications for health education programmes are far reaching.