Elsevier

Addictive Behaviors

Volume 31, Issue 1, January 2006, Pages 102-114
Addictive Behaviors

Adolescent smoking and drinking: The role of communal mastery and other social influences

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2005.04.013Get rights and content

Abstract

The main goal of this study is to investigate social influences of adolescent smoking and drinking. These social influences include social motives, parental attitudes, communal mastery and peers' substance use patterns. Literature suggests that communal mastery (as a form of social competence) may be related to adolescent substance use. In addition, gender differences may be hypothesized in the social influences of adolescent substance use. Data were collected in a middle and high school student population (N = 634, 50.6% males, age range: 11–19, mean: 15.6, S.D.: 2.0) in Szeged, Hungary. The instruments contained questions on sociodemographics, smoking and drinking, social influences, social motives, and communal mastery. Results showed that high levels of communal mastery was an important protective factor against adolescent boys' smoking and drinking. For girls, communal mastery did not play such a role. The role of social motives, friends' and best friend's substance use and parental approval also were justified.

Introduction

Smoking and drinking, as the most common forms of substance use, are influenced by a variety of social factors. Social influences vary from social norms and expectations to more direct ways of invitations and pressures (see, e.g., Oostveen et al., 1996, Simons-Morton et al., 2001). The peer context is perhaps the most salient predictor of adolescent substance use, which often is expressed as a social pressure from peers to initiate substance use (Hussong, 2002, Piko, 2001a). Adjusting to social pressure has been found among the key factors in the initiation of smoking (Li et al., 2003) as well as of drinking (Stewart et al., 1996, Wild, 2002). Friends' smoking, particularly the best friend's smoking, is often the strongest predictor of smoking in adolescence (De Vries et al., 2003, Piko, 2001a, Stein et al., 1996). Social motives, including one's belief that social gatherings are more fun when cigarettes and alcohol are available for use, are the best predictors of alcohol misuse regardless of gender differences (Bradizza, Reifman, & Barnes, 1999). In addition to peer effect, parental influence remains important as a contribute to adolescent substance use. Previous research results suggest that parents' (approving or disapproving) attitudes towards smoking or drinking, rather than their actual behaviors, are related to their children's substance use (Gerrard et al., 1999, Pederson et al., 1998, Piko, 2001a).

As a consequence of these social influences, experimentation with smoking and drinking increases dramatically during adolescence (Gilvarry, 2000, Poikolainen, 2002). In addition, the co-occurrence of smoking and drinking in adolescence is very common, due to the similarities in the background variables, among others, social influences (Johnson, Boles, Vaughan, & Kleber, 2000). Social influences from peers may act as a positive reinforcement to smoking and drinking (Read, Wood, Kahler, Maddock, & Palfai, 2003). This is particularly true for adolescents with poor social competence (Griffin, Epstein, Botvin, & Spoth, 2001). For these adolescents, substance use with peers may act as a form of the adaptation processes during adolescence (Ungar, 2000). On the other hand, good social competence may act as a developmental asset against substance use (Whitlock & Hamilton, 2003).

What is the rationale for considering the role of social influences and social competence in adolescent substance use? These effects are closely connected with the restructuring social network systems at a time when adolescents begin to move away from parents and develop peer-oriented connections (Cotterell, 1996, Piko, 2000). Adolescence thus is a period of transition characterized by a series of developmental challenges such as growing independence from the family or fulfilling new social roles with peers. An increasing need for autonomy is a special characteristic of adolescence and, not surprisingly, adolescents tend to use fewer support-seeking ways of coping with their problems (Arnett, 1998).

This increased need for autonomy is especially true for adolescent males (Piko, 1998, Piko, 2001b). For example, more adolescent females report seeking help from parents, friends and professionals than males (Schonert-Reichl & Muller, 1996). Previous studies draw our attention to gender differences not only in the frequencies of substance use but also in the role of social influences in determining adolescents' substance use (Hops, Davis, & Lewin, 1999). These gender differences in social influences may be due to differences in social skills and support-seeking behaviors. For example, while females tend to be more socially oriented and engaged in more social support, males often benefit more from social support as a way of coping (Piko, 2001b).

These findings may lead us to consider social competence as a social influence of adolescent substance use. Not only do social support and network systems undergo dramatic changes in adolescence but the adolescents must explore new roles and develop new social skills (Cotterell, 1996). As described above, peer influences are not necessarily negative but instead are an important source of adolescent identity formation. The negative effect of peer pressure in terms of substance use may be mediated by individual differences in social competence and mastery. Communal mastery may be viewed as a form of social competence.

As Hobfoll and his coworkers argue, communal mastery is defined as the belief that one is capable of successful goal attainment by virtue of being closely interconnected with others (Hobfoll, Schröder, Wells, & Malek, 2002). Thus, communal mastery represents the socially interconnected self with the independent or autonomous self (Helgeson, 1994). Certainly, there are significant gender differences in social orientations, e.g., women are more likely than men to see themselves as interconnected with others (Helgeson, 1994, Hobfoll et al., 2002). In many cases, coping is a communal process and is closely related to a sense of communal efficacy (Lyons, Mickelson, Sullivan, & Coyne, 1998). A sense of shared efficacy, rather than self-mastery, was found to be more central to people's resiliency in a highly collectivist culture (Hobfoll, Jackson, Hobfoll, Pierce, & Young, 2002). However, communal mastery, or a collective sense of agency, is more closely related to preserving social support even in a highly individualistic culture, which may be beneficial in coping with stress (Hobfoll & Schröder et al., 2002).

In an individualized society, socio-cultural norms emphasize autonomy, self-efficacy, personal mastery and individual skills (Arnett, 1998, Baer & Bray, 1999). The dominant view of the self as independent and autonomous may restrict our understanding of the self as a social construct (Markus & Kitayama, 1994). Despite these cultural tendencies, however, social skills and the quality of social support systems play an important role in determining psychological well-being, health-related behavior and health. This suggests that we must find harmony between personal agency and social functioning. Research on social competence and substance use suggests that those youth who are more socially confident and have better communication skills tend to report less smoking and drinking (Griffin et al., 2001). Conversely, less competent youth turn to smoking and drinking as a social benefit from social conformity with peers (Ungar, 2000). A number of authors have suggested using positive peer group influence as a means of neutralizing such negative effects. By doing so, prevention programs can use “positive peers” to direct vulnerable youth away from unhealthy pursuits and activities in favor of healthy ones (Rosenberg, 2002).

Although some aspects of personal agency, such as self-mastery, self-esteem or optimism, have been investigated in connection with psychological well-being, coping with stress and health risk behaviors (see, e.g., Andersson, 1996, Flay et al., 1999, Majer et al., 2003, Schweitzer et al., 1992), the relationships between communal mastery and adolescents' health-related behaviors have not yet examined. I hypothesize that communal mastery, representing certain aspect of social competence, may be related to adolescent substance use. In addition, due to gender differences in smoking and drinking occurrence as well as in social influences and skills, I hypothesize that there may be gender differences in the relationship between communal mastery and substance use patterns among adolescents.

The main goal of the present study is to investigate social influences of adolescent smoking and drinking. These social influences include social motives, communal mastery, parental attitudes and peers' substance use patterns. I hypothesize that communal mastery as a form of social competence may serve as a protection against adolescent smoking and drinking. I also investigate gender differences in other social influences of adolescent substance use.

Section snippets

Participants and procedure

Data were collected in conjunction with a research project of health risk behaviors and their social influences in a middle and high school student population in Szeged, Hungary. The sample consisted of 634 middle and high school students (age range: 11–19, mean: 15.6, S.D.: 2.0). In the sample, there were 321 (50.6%) males and 313 (49.4%) females. The sample was based on randomly selected classes from four public middle and high schools. Of 700 questionnaires sent out, 634 were returned and

Results

Table 1 shows the frequencies of smoking and drinking by gender in the sample. As Chi-square test revealed, there were no significant gender differences in the frequencies of smoking, though more adolescent males report regularly smoking more than 10 cigarettes a day. Drinking was more common among males, particularly regular use of alcohol.

Table 2 provides descriptive statistics for some social influences of smoking and drinking in the sample. Only 17.2% of the students estimated that none of

Discussion

Literature suggests that social influences are the most important determinants of adolescent smoking and drinking (see, e.g., Oostveen et al., 1996, Piko, 2001a, Simons-Morton et al., 2001, Tyas & Pederson, 1998). The peer context, or a social pressure from peers, however, is closely connected with youth's social competence (e.g., Griffin et al., 2001, Rosenberg, 2002). Therefore, we must understand what social competence means and how it influences the initiation and maintenance of substance

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Darlene R. Wright, PhD and the reviewers, for their useful comments on the paper, and Dora Skulteti for her assistance in the data collection and data processing. This study was supported by the OTKA T 042490, the ETT T08 005 grants (Hungary) and by a Bolyai fellowship provided to the author by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

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