The Natural History of Cigarette Smoking and Young Adult Social Roles

• Published in: Journal of health and social behavior Vol. 33; no. 4; pp. 328 - 347
• Main Authors: Chassin, Laurie, Presson, Clark C., Sherman, Steven J., Edwards, Debra A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Sociological Association 01.12.1992
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Adult education; Adults; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Cigarette smoking; Cigarettes; Educational attainment; Educational Status; Factors; Female; Full time students; Gender Identity; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical sciences; Midwestern United States - epidemiology; Modeling; Parent education; Parents; Parents - education; Psychology, Adolescent; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Role; Roles; Smoking; Smoking - epidemiology; Smoking - psychology; Smoking cessation; Social psychology; Social roles; Socialization; Student Role; Substance use; Teenagers; Young Adults; Young people; Midwestern United States; Human; Sex; Tobacco smoking; Social learning; Gender role; Cigarette; Social development; Consumer behavior; Follow up study; Adolescent; Young adult; Social role; Occupational role
• ISSN: 0022-1465; 2150-6000
• DOI: 10.2307/2137312

The relation between cigarette smoking (in adolescence and adulthood) and the occupancy of conventional adult social roles was investigated in the current study. Two alternative predictions for this relation were examined--"role incompatibility" (which predicts a negative relation between adolescent smoking and adult role occupancy) and "pseudomaturity" (which predicts a positive relation between adolescent smoking and adult role occupancy). Processes of role selection and role socialization were examined using data from a longitudinal study of smoking from adolescence to young adulthood. Both pseudomaturity and role incompatibility predictions found some support in the data, and the two views could be reconciled by considering the student role as the key transition into other adult statuses. Implications for the study of social roles and substance use are discussed.