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Peer and Social Correlates of Smoking among Saudi Youth

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Smoking declines are uneven around the world, and we have few studies on the correlates of youth smoking in contexts like Saudi Arabia, where declines have been slowest. Using a broadly socio-ecological framework and network data, we report on one of the few studies to simultaneously examine peer, family, and school features associated with smoking in the Saudi context. We find strong and consistent peer and family associations with both occasional and regular smoking via direct modeling (level of peers/family that also smoke) and substantive interactions (lying to parents in the family domain, engaging in unsupervised youth-centric activities, or seeking popularity in the peer domain). Although our design precludes causal claims, our results are consistent with smoking initiation being driven by occasional use surrounding attempts to gain youth social status, whereas regular use depends on implicit family and peer acceptance.

Source: Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World

DOI: 10.1177/23780231241286735

Authors: Rajaa T. Alqahtani, James Moody, Naurah N. Alhemodi, Mohammed S. Alghamdi, Serene Alhajhussein

Institutions: King Abdulaziz University, Duke University

Language: English

Topic: Smoking Behavior and Cessation

Subfield: Physiology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,000