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An “Epidemic” Model of Adolescent Cigarette Smoking
Author(s) -
Rowe David C.,
Chassin Laurie,
Presson Clark C.,
Edwards Debra,
Sherman Steven J.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1992.tb01539.x
Subject(s) - cigarette smoking , psychology , epidemic model , constant (computer programming) , habit , transition (genetics) , demography , social psychology , medicine , population , sociology , gene , biochemistry , chemistry , computer science , programming language
The prevalence of regular smoking increases rapidly during adolescence. We applied modeling methods from the study of epidemic infectious disease to smoking behavior. Our “epidemic” models dealt with the process of transition among four states: nonsmoker (susceptible), trier (exposed), regular smoker (infected), and ex‐smoker (recovered). The best fitting model was one in which the transition from nonsmoker to trier was a social contagion process where nonsmokers contacted either triers or regular smokers. All other transitions were treated as constant rate processes in which a constant proportion of eligible individuals made the transition in a given year. The recursive equation model embodying these assumptions was able to predict accurately the proportion of adolescents in each state in Grades 6–11. Our results support a “stage” model of smoking, suggesting that different psychological and physiological processes are involved in the initiation of smoking than in developing a habit of regular smoking. A possible sex difference was found in the non‐contact transition between trier and smoker states, with the transition being more probable in females than in males.