Gender and Predisposing Attributes as Predictors of Smoking Onset: Implications for Theory and Practice

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Abstract
The typically modest and short-lived outcomes for social influences smoking prevention programs might improve if programs were tailored to needs of high-risk youth. Longitudinal data from the Waterloo Smoking Prevention Project, Study 3 (WSPP3), were used to study degree of risk for the transition from nonsmoking to smoking during three transition periods: grade six to seven, seven to eight, and eight to nine, as a function of gender, predisposing attributes, and participation in a social influences program. Four dispositional factors were studied: rebelliousness, rejection of adult authority, personal dissatisfaction, and peer approval. Annual survey data from 3,566 youth were used in a proportional hazards model survival analysis to determine relative risk. All four dispositions significantly predicted transition for females, but only rebelliousness and rejection of authority did so for males. The degree of increased dispositional risk was consistently greater for females. Social influences programs had a modest tendency to moderate the effects of disposition. The study concludes that dispositional factors are important determinants of smoking onset and the impact of social influences programs, particularly for females. The results are discussed in terms of the evident value of theory to improve both research and practice and the potential to enhance the impact of social influences curricula by addressing individual differences.