Stages of Acquiring the Smoking Habit

 
This project was designed to test a theoretical model of smoking development. The authors hypothesize that young people will go through four stages related to smoking. This theory is related to a similar theory, the Transtheoretical Theory of Change which has been applied to studying smoking cessation.

The first stage, where young people start, was called the precontemplation stage. During this stage, young people are expected to not have begun thinking about smoking and consequently will have no desire to smoke nor will they perceive smoking to have any positive effects.

The second hypothesized stage was called the contemplation stage. During this stage, nonsmokers consider smoking and may think of positive effects associated with smoking, but have not yet begun to smoke.

The third stage was called the action stage. During this stage young people begin to experiment with cigarettes although they are not committed to a pattern of regular use.

Finally, during the maintenance stage, adolescents who smoke are committed to using cigarettes as part of their lifestyle, have no desire to stop, and see many positive effects of smoking.

The investigators created a survey that included 128 questions that they administered to 202 students in grades six through eleven.
 
After analysis, 21 items were kept in the survey. Three scales (groups of items) were statistically identified. The items in the first scale were related to precontemplation about smoking. The items in the second scale were related to contemplation and action about smoking. The items in the final scale were related to maintenance of smoking.

When students were classified based on how they had responded to these items, nine groups were identified. Each group had a different profile in terms of how they scored on the three scales. Of these groups, five were interpretable. Sixty percent of the students were included in these five groups.
  • Precontemplators One group of 45 had profiles that fit with a precontemplation profile: high on the precontemplation about smoking scale and low on the decision making about smoking and the maintenance of smoking scales.
  • Deciders A group of 9 were high on precontemplation and decision making and low on maintenance.
  • Contemplators A group of 32 had profiles that fit with a group actively trying to decide about smoking: low on the precontemplation scale, high on the decision making scale, and low on the maintenance scale.
  • Experimenters A group of 26 were low on the precontemplation scale, high on the decision making scale and moderate on the maintenance scale.
  • Smokers A group of 4 were low on the precontemplation scale and high on both the decision making and maintenance scales.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This study supports the idea that smoking develops in stages. Adolescents progressively go through stages in which they first contemplate smoking, experiment with cigarettes, and ultimately become habituated.

A large number of students (40%) were not classifiable into one of the researchers' groups. This means that classification using this survey will work a little more than half the time.
 
Stern, R.A., Prochaska, J.O., Velicer, W.F., & Elder, J.P. (1987). Stages of adolescent cigarette smoking acquisition: measurement and sample profiles. Addictive Behaviors, 12, 319-329.
 
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