NCJ Number
194997
Journal
Youth Studies Australia Volume: 21 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2002 Pages: 34-39
Date Published
March 2002
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article focuses on young people’s smoking habits and efforts to quit in Australia.
Abstract
Ethnographic methodology was chosen as the method focusing on individual and group beliefs from a cultural perspective. The study was located in one State high school in urban South East Queensland. Data were collected via participant observations, mapping, and in-depth interviews. Observations were made of the existing smoking groups within the school. The young people openly talked about their smoking behavior, linking their smoking to their social relationships and their health. Smoking and not smoking were important dynamics in their family and peer relationships as well as in dealings with authority figures. They also discussed the impact of smoking on their health. Findings showed that smoking was constructed as a social activity that bonded individuals, appeared thrilling, relieved boredom, and gained the attention of others. Smoking was a site through which these individuals self-managed their social and personal life, in turn either sustaining or challenging their smoking identity in the process. The study cast little light on the nature of parenting or its influence on smoking behaviors. The findings suggest that attention be given to the concept of self-management as an integral one to understanding the way young adults construct smoking in their lives. It is suggested that harnessing or applying the concept of self-management in the development of health promoting programs may increase the relevance of cessation strategies to their target group, young adult smokers. Health educators can develop youth appropriate programs in which young adults participate as co-developers and beneficiaries. 22 references