Elsevier

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 25, Issue 4, July–August 2000, Pages 625-632
Addictive Behaviors

Brief report
Optimistic bias in adolescent and adult smokers and nonsmokers

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-4603(99)00072-6Get rights and content

Abstract

Optimistic biases regarding the risks of smoking were examined among 200 adolescents (aged 12–17) and 203 adults (aged 30–50). Strong majorities of adolescent and adult smokers and nonsmokers agreed that smoking is addictive and causes death for “most people” who smoke. However, for themselves personally, adolescent and adult smokers were more likely than nonsmokers to doubt that they would die from smoking even if they smoked for 30 or 40 years. Furthermore, 60% of adolescent and 48% of adult smokers believed that they “could smoke for a few years and then quit” if they wished, figures far higher than for nonsmokers. Thus an optimistic bias regarding smoking risks appears to be held by both adolescent and adult smokers, especially by adolescents and especially regarding addiction. Implications for smoking prevention programs are discussed.

Section snippets

Participants and procedure

The participants were 200 adolescents aged 12–17 (89 males and 111 females) and 203 adults aged 30–50 (95 males, 108 females). Data from half of the adolescents and adults were collected in Seattle, Washington, and from the other half in Spokane, Washington. Among the adolescents, 80% were White, 5% Asian American, 5% Latino, 3% African American, and 7% other ethnic groups. Among the adults, 83% were White, 7% African American, 3% Latino, 3% Asian American, and 4% other ethnic groups.

Results

Twenty-four percent (24%) of the adolescents and 32% of the adults had smoked at least one cigarette in the past 30 days. There were no gender differences in smoking prevalence among adolescents, but among adults males were significantly more likely than females to have smoked in the past 30 days—40% males, 24% females; chi-square (1,201) = 5.73, p < .05. Smoking prevalence increased with age among adolescents, from 4% of 12-year-olds to 41% of 17-year-olds. There were no age differences in

Discussion

Although optimistic bias has been found to be related to smoking behavior among both adolescents and adults (Weinstein, 1998), up to now only one study (Cohn et al., 1995) had included both adolescents and adults. The results of the present study confirmed the finding of Cohn et al. (1995) that the optimistic bias in relation to smoking is stronger for adolescents than for adults. Furthermore, unlike Cohn et al., the present study also compared the optimistic bias among smokers and nonsmokers.

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