Work

Unraveling the complexity of associations between tobacco culture in Chinese society and smokers' outcome expectancies: a network perspective

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Background: Chinese unique sociocultural context surrounding tobacco reinforces smoking behaviors, potentially through its influence on smokers' expectancies of smoking-related outcomes. Network analysis effectively explores the intricate relationship between social tobacco cultural attitudes and smoking outcome expectancies among Chinese smokers. Methods: The study included 1382 current smokers. A mixed graphical model was employed to construct internal and combined networks of social tobacco cultural attitudes and smoking outcome expectancies. Additionally, node strength centrality, edge weights, and stability were analyzed. Results: In the network of social tobacco cultural attitudes, sharing cigarettes (jingyan or sanyan) was identified as the central node (Str = 0.855). For smoking outcome expectancies, stimulus/state enhancement exhibits the highest strength centrality (Str = 0.860). In the total integrated network of smoking outcome expectancies and social tobacco cultural attitudes, social facilitation outcome expectancies demonstrated the highest strength centrality between the two variables (Str = 0.894). Conclusions: In this study, social facilitation outcome expectancies were central in the combined network of social tobacco cultural attitudes and smoking outcome expectancies, showing a direct and positive link to multiple tobacco cultural attitudes. This finding illustrates how sociocultural factors are interconnected with individual expectancies of smoking outcomes, identifying the central positioning of social facilitation expectancies variables within the sociocultural attitudes-outcome expectancies network. These insights provide new perspectives for developing culturally adaptive tobacco control interventions, such as reshaping tobacco cultural symbols to promote "smoke-free weddings" and "refusing cigarette gifts."

Source: SSM - Population Health

DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101890

Authors: Yixin Zhao, Xiaoyan Wang, Shiyao Ling, Kexin Peng, Hongyu Li, Lian Yang

Institution: Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

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: $2,930