Sociometric status as a predictor of onset and progression in adolescent cigarette smoking

The relation between sociometric status and adolescent cigarette smoking was examined in a 1-year longitudinal study. Students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades (N=1,630) were asked to nominate peers in their grade at school whom they liked and peers whom they disliked. These nominations were used to classify participants into one of five sociometric categories (popular, rejected, controversial, neglected, and average). Participants also reported their lifetime cigarette use at two measurements in consecutive school years. The results indicated that rejected and controversial adolescents were more likely than average adolescents to (a) report lifetime smoking at time 1 (T1) and (b) report onset of smoking at time 2 (T2). However, among adolescents who had already tried cigarettes at T1, rejected and controversial youth were not at increased risk for progression in total lifetime cigarette smoking (i.e., higher levels of total lifetime cigarette use at T2). Thus the results confirm that controversial youth are similar to rejected youth in their risk for onset of cigarette smoking during adolescence.