Smoking among Norwegian schoolchildren 1975–1980

A comprehensive research project on smoking among Norwegian schoolchildren was started in 1975. Results from two nation-wide questionnaire surveys and from two field experiments were presented. The first field experiment (1978) demonstrated that different approaches to smoking and health education had different effects on the pupils' reported tobacco consumption. In three of four experimental groups, the reported short-term reduction of cigarettes smoked was statistically significant. If the pupils were actively involved, and when their parents were involved, the reported reduction of cigarettes smoked was 21 % compared to only 6% in a group with passive pupils and no involvement of the parents. In a second field experiment (1979-80), a long-term reduction was shown. During the first six months there was a marked decrease in the prevalence of smokers. Compared with a control group, the effect still remained after one year. In the period 1975–1980, a new trend in smoking among young people in Norway was recorded. Irrespective of grade and sex, the proportion of young people smoking daily decreased. The decrease was somewhat stronger for girls than for boys.     

Smoking among Norwegian schoolchildren 1975–1980: I. Extent of smoking in the age group 12–15 years, 1975

213600 pupils from grades 6–9 (age 12–15) in the primary school in Norway filled in a questionnaire about smoking habits (1975). The headmaster of each individual of the 2824 schools participating in the study filled in reports giving the local frequencies of daily smokers, occasional smokers and nonsmokers for each grade and for boys and girls separately. The school-reports also contained questions about demographical properties of the school. A sample of 6968 questionnaires from the pupils (those who were born on the sixth irrespective of month) were also submitted for statistical analysis. Compared with previous studies, the percentage of smokers among girls proved to have increased considerably. The tendency found in many western industrialized countries, that smoking is increasing among girls more than among boys, or that boys are reducing smoking to a greater extent than are girls, was confirmed also for Norway. In all 19 counties there was a higher percentage of daily smokers among girls than among boys. Higher percentages of occasional smokers or pupils who had tried smoking were found in small schools and scattered settlements. Norway may be divided into geographical areas according to the differences in the smoking habits of girls and boys. In the counties in the south and to the west, girls have not surpassed boys to the same extent as in the rest of the country. From previous political-cultural research it is known that the south and west is characterized by temperance and prohibition movements, higher frequencies of religious attendance, as well as a distintiveness in voting behaviour.     

The influence of social environment and social image on adolescent smoking.

This purpose of this article is to explore differences by gender and school grade in patterns of association among social influences and tobacco use. Data from the 1999 (N = 15,038) and 2000 (N = 35,828) National Youth Tobacco Survey (American Legacy Foundation, 1999, 2000), a nationally representative, repeated cross-sectional survey, were used in the analysis. The authors compared effects on adolescent smoking. Direct paths from social environment to current smoking increased from middle school to high school. Indirect paths with social image mediating this relationship revealed a smaller increase. The pattern was constant across subsamples. Social image of smokers mediated the influence of social environment on adolescent smoking. Social image had a greater effect on smoking among middle school boys and high school girls.     

Studies in social influence: II. Instrumental and symbolic influence

In this article we have dealt with a critical analysis pertaining to the notion of the informational influence. We hereby show that in every inter-actionary situation, the judgments emitted by the source (influence agent) appear to contain informations on the judged objects from their elementary content and, at the same time, from their organisation, like indications on the source itself, on its purpose. In this manner, we have come to distinguish the instrumental influence from the symbolical influence. An experiment where the subjects have to judge the number of points appearing on the slides shows that this distinction reveals what happens in the process of influence.     

The real and the ideal; gender differences in heterosexual behaviour among Norwegian adolescents

This article focuses on gender differences in early heterosexual behaviour among Norwegian adolescents. The material comprised a random sample of 3000 Norwegian adolescents aged 17–19 years. The response rate was 63%. Data were collected by means of anonymous self-administered questionnaires. Sixty-nine per cent of the girls and 59% of the boys had had sexual intercourse. The majority of the adolescents, and a larger percentage of girls than of boys, had their first intercourse within a relationship of mutual commitment. The boys' first coital partners were 0.2 years younger than the boys themselves and the girls' partners were 2.8 years older than were the girls. Boys had had more coital partners than girls but girls had had intercourse more often than boys. Coital frequency was affected more by how long the adolescents had known the partner than by gender as such. In conclusion, boys and girls aged between 17 and 19 years form part of couples at two different stages of development. For this reason, boys and girls accumulate different sexual experiences in the early stage of their sexual careers.     

Situating social influence processes: dynamic, multidirectional flows of influence within social networks.

Social psychologists have studied the psychological processes involved in persuasion, conformity, and other forms of social influence, but they have rarely modeled the ways influence processes play out when multiple sources and multiple targets of influence interact over time. However, workers in other fields from sociology and economics to cognitive science and physics have recognized the importance of social influence and have developed models of influence flow in populations and groups-generally without relying on detailed social psychological findings. This article reviews models of social influence from a number of fields, categorizing them using four conceptual dimensions to delineate the universe of possible models. The goal is to encourage interdisciplinary collaborations to build models that incorporate the detailed, microlevel understanding of influence processes derived from focused laboratory studies but contextualized in ways that recognize how multidirectional, dynamic influences are situated in people's social networks and relationships.     

The burden of social proof: shared thresholds and social influence

Social influence rises with the number of influence sources, but the proposed relationship varies across theories, situations, and research paradigms. To clarify this relationship, I argue that people share some sense of where the "burden of social proof" lies in situations where opinions or choices are in conflict. This suggests a family of models sharing 2 key parameters, one corresponding to the location of the influence threshold, and the other reflecting its clarity--a factor that explains why discrete "tipping points" are not observed more frequently. The plausibility and implications of this account are examined using Monte Carlo and cellular automata simulations and the relative fit of competing models across classic data sets in the conformity, group deliberation, and social diffusion literatures.     

The influence of qualitative assessments of the social and physical environment on the morale of the rural elderly

This study examined the impact of qualitative assessments of the social and physical environment on the morale of a community sample of 231 rural elderly. It was hypothesized that qualitative assessments would make a significant contribution to morale after the application of controls for background influences and activity participation. Providing support for the hypothesis, the set of six qualitative assessment variables explained 14% of the total variance in life satisfaction, the criterion of morale, when entered at the final stage of the analysis. Additionally, multiple regression analysis revealed that significant individual contributions to life satisfaction were made by availability of a confidant, transportation need, shopping enjoyment, neighbor satisfaction, and community satisfaction, from the qualitative assessment set.     

Smoking withdrawal dynamics: II. Improved tests of withdrawal-relapse relations

In this article, the authors assessed whether continuously scaled symptom parameters derived from growth models (T. M. Piasecki et al., 2003) are linked to smoking at long-term follow-up by using data from a large-scale clinical trial (N = 893). Results revealed that higher withdrawal intercepts, positive linear slopes, and greater volatility were all positively associated with relapse, and cigarette coefficients (indicating smoking-induced withdrawal reduction) were negatively related to relapse. In models keyed around the first lapse to smoking, those destined to lapse reported more severe withdrawal during abstinence, and withdrawal patterns discriminated groups defined according to lapse duration. The findings complement earlier heterogeneity studies in implicating the pattern of changing withdrawal symptoms over time as a factor strongly associated with smoking relapse.     

The influence of a physical ability intervention program on improved running time and increased sport motivation among Jerusalem schoolchildren

Several studies have demonstrated an inverse relationship between physical activity and coronary heart disease (CHD). Other studies have reported a negative correlation between aerobic capacity and obesity and CHD risk factors among adolescents. In this study, the possibility of modifying physical ability in adolescents aged 13 has been examined through a physical ability intervention program. During 1984-1985, all eligible eighth graders from five Jerusalem public schools participated in the program. Physical ability was defined in the biological dimension by the running time for 1000 meters, and in the psychological dimension by sport motivation. The intervention program involved a periodic and progressive increase of physical effort of children in 16 gym lessons during the regular curriculum. The major findings were that the test group improved their running time and had better sport motivation than did the control group, and there were differences between boys and girls and an influence of sexual maturation on running time in girls.