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Abstract

Purpose.

To examine relations among gender, self-generated smoking-outcome expectancies, and smoking in adolescents.

Methods.

Students from one all-girls' (n = 350; 53%) and one all-boys' (n = 315; 47%) Catholic high school participated. Analyses included binary and ordinal logistic regression.

Results.

For boys, smoking behavior was associated with buzz (odds radio [OR] = 1.92, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.31–2.83, p < .001), pleasure (OR = 1.47, 95% CI: 1.01–2.16, p = .044), taste/smell (OR = 2.17, 95% CI: 1.12–4.19, p = .022), stimulation (OR = 3.69, 95% CI: 1.32–10.28, p = .013), and exercise/sport impairment (OR = 2.84, 95% CI: 1.68–4.81, p < .001). Among girls, weight control (OR = 0.22, 95% CI: 0.13–0.36, p < .001), negative aesthetics (OR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.28-0.64, p < .001), addiction (OR = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.28–0.55, p < .001), and negative mood (OR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.20–0.97, p = .041) predicted smoking. Buzz (β = 2.88, p = .004) mediated the gender-smoking relationship. Moderators included negative social (β = −0.45, p = .021) and enhance self-esteem (β = −1.07, p = .024).

Conclusion.

Interventions might benefit from tailoring on gender differences in smoking-outcome expectancies.

Keywords

Expectancies Adolescents Gender Smoking Prevention Research Manuscript format: research Research purpose: modeling/relationship testing Study design: nonexperimental Outcome measure: cognitive,behavioral Setting: school Health focus: smoking control Strategy: education Target population age: youth Target population circumstances: geographic location

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