Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

3762

Date

2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Concentration

Clinical Psychology

Committee Chair

James Murphy

Committee Member

Kristoffer Berlin

Committee Member

Robert Cohen

Committee Member

Kenneth Ward

Abstract

Peers and family members play a critical role in the onset and progression of smoking in adolescence; however, the relation between peer and family behaviors and smoking cessation during adolescence has received far less attention. The present study aimed to (1) examine the different peer and family social influences experienced by adolescents who were in the process of smoking cessation; (2) identify subgroups of peer and family influences using a person-centered approach; and (3) determine if these empirically derived groups of adolescents were associated with adolescent quit attempts, and how these relations vary across adolescent race, sex, and levels of nicotine dependence. Data were drawn from a racially diverse (44.3% African American) sample of adolescents (N= 88) from the Adolescent Cessation and Evaluation Study, a larger investigation of smoking cessation in adolescents. Results of the univariate analyses on social influences indicated that peers, and to a lesser degree family members, engaged in a variety of behaviors that could potentially disrupt adolescent smoking cessation efforts. Latent profile analysis revealed two classes of peer and family social influences: low support-seeking class (n = 28, 31.8%) and high support-seeking class (n = 60, 68.2%). African American adolescents were two times more likely to be in the high support-seeking class, and significant associations were found between levels of nicotine dependence and adolescent quit attempts. These findings have implications for intervention programs that target adolescent smokers.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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