Relative effects of low socio-economic status, parental smoking and poor scholastic performance on smoking among high school students

Previous studies have established that parental smoking, socio-economic status and scholastic performance are all related to smoking in high school students. A study of 1814 students at a high school in Western Pennsylvania confirmed the three factors previously identified as corelates of smoking in teenagers. Findings of this study also showed that of the three factors scholastic performance was clearly the strongest, with parental smoking next in strength and socio-economic status a weak third. These results are discussed in relation to similar findings on antisocial behavior in teenagers and interpreted following Gold and Mann [1], in terms of smoking as a defense against a derogated self-image.