Peer group identification and smoking: Implications for intervention.

The present investigation had the goal of examining the relation between cigarette smoking and peer group affiliations in junior high school students. The data were obtained by administering a structured interview to 353 seventh and eighth graders. The results showed that two high-risk groups who made up 14.7% of the sample accounted for 55.6% of the smokers. In addition, a discriminant analysis revealed that cigarette smoking was the best discriminator of social group affiliations. The results suggest that smoking intervention programs will have a greater chance of being a success if they address specific social and emotional needs of individuals who are at greater risk for becoming smokers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)