New Zealand Adolescents’ Perception of Smoking and Social Policy Implications

The aim of this paper was to explore the attitudes and associations of smoking among adolescents to highlight the implications for the development of social policy. We report the results of a study based on a series of in-depth focus group discussions among school children. Several themes are identified, providing some indication of the susceptibility factors that can lead to smoking behaviour: the perception of infallibility despite knowledge of smoking related diseases; social influences from friends and family; the desire to experiment; and stress. The social policy initiatives recommended include the creation of anti-smoking messaging for cinema audiences in order to counteract the effect of aspirational role models. Targeting anti-smoking education programmes at the primary school level, extending current initiatives addressed at Maori and Pacific Island populations to preand primary-school education, and encouraging family involvement in these education programmes are also recommended. The reframing of current physical threatthemed media communication to focus more on social threat themes, and the widening of the media mix to reflect adolescent audience use are believed to be effective.