Smoking and the Need to Belong: Peer Conformity as a Psychosocial Determinant among Junior High School Adolescents

Adolescent smoking is not simply an individual choice; it is embedded in everyday relationships and the need to belong. Peer conformity is particularly relevant during adolescence, when acceptance by friends can shape decisions about risky behaviors. This study examined the association between peer conformity and smoking behavior among male students at SMP Negeri 19 Kota Serang. An analytic cross-sectional design was used, with total sampling involving 95 ninth-grade students. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using the Chi-square test. Fifty-one participants (53.7%) were classified in the high peer-conformity category, and 54 (56.8%) were classified in the high smoking-behavior category. Cross-tabulation showed that high smoking behavior occurred in 34 of 44 participants (77.3%) with low peer conformity and in 20 of 51 participants (39.2%) with high peer conformity. Peer conformity was significantly associated with smoking behavior (p = 0.001; OR = 0.190). These findings highlight peer conformity as a relevant psychosocial process within adolescent smoking behavior and show that the relationship is embedded in a broader social context in which all participants had a family member who smoked. School-based prevention should therefore move beyond communicating the harms of smoking to include refusal skills, assertive communication, supportive peer norms, and family involvement.