Moderators of peer influence effects for adolescents’ smoking and vaping norms and outcomes in high and middle-income settings
Susceptibility to peer influence depends on contextual, individual, and network factors. Future social norms interventions should provide information on both injunctive and descriptive norms and highlight the social consequences of smoking, particularly in LMICs. Gender-tailored approaches are needed to address heightened susceptibility among girls. Future intervention research should combine peer-led diffusion approaches with teacher-led instruction to maximize reach and sustainability in different contexts. Social influence-based interventions may be particularly beneficial for schools with lower SES or in LMICs without tobacco control legislation, where smoking remains largely normalized. Network-based interventions like ASSIST could benefit from careful consideration of which network metrics are used to select peer leaders (e.g., eigenvector or closeness centralities) and exploring alternative approaches for more heterogeneous networks (e.g., 'segmentation', which targets clusters of individuals within social networks).
Authors
- Shannon C. Montgomery (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2816-0615)
- Laura Dunne (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9264-780X)
- Ruth Fiona Hunter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7315-0382)
- Blanca Llorente (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3350-1648)
- Linda Bauld (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7411-4260)
- Sharon Sánchez-Franco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8078-3751)
- Felipe Montes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9923-4004)
- Frank Kee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0606-8167)
- Erin L. Krupka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9194-7501)
- Abhijit Ramalingam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4301-4798)
- Christopher Tate (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3986-5971)
- Jennifer Murray (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0622-8631)
- Erik O. Kimbrough (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6495-0430)
- Laurence Moore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2182-823X)
- Olga Lucia Sarmiento (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9190-3568)
- Huiyu Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1634-9840)
- Rajnish Kumar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3337-6576)
Institutions
- Florida State University (US)
- Queen's University Belfast (GB)
- University of Leicester (GB)
- Universidad de Los Andes (CO)
- Chapman University (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit (GB)
- Appalachian State University (US)
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Published
- 2025-11-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1655761
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.88
Funders
- Medical Research Council