Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California surveyed 1,486 students in the sixth grade and then again the following year, in seventh grade. Students were defined as smokers if they had ever smoked-whether just a puff or a whole cigarette-and they were classified as susceptible to smoking if they refused to rule out any smoking in their future. Popularity was measured by the number of times a young person was named as a friend by other students in his or her class.

"In the year between the two surveys, we found that the popular students became more susceptible to smoking than their peers and were more likely to actually smoke than their peers," says study lead author Thomas W. Valente, Ph.D., associate professor of preventive medicine and member of the Institute for Health Promotion & Disease Prevention Research (IPR) at the Keck School. "The association existed across ethnicities and genders but was strongest for non-white boys."

Researchers theorize that popular sixth-graders may believe that being among the first to experiment with smoking will help them stay popular. Popular students try to set trends without deviating very far from the norms of the community, according to the study.

Because popular students model behaviors that others imitate -that is, because they are trendsetters-researchers expect smoking to spread more rapidly among young people when popular boys and girls choose to smoke.

The study also showed that isolated students-those who named no friends in the classroom-also were more likely to become smokers. The authors surmise that teen-agers who are isolated in the clas
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Contact: Kathleen O'Neil
kathleen.oneil@usc.edu
323-442-2830
University of Southern California
15-Sep-2005