casual mechanism. “Rather than increasing one’s desire to escape, being a child in an incomplete family may increase one’s freedom, making it relatively easy to conceal deviant behavior, such as smoking” (DeFronzo and Pawlak, 1993, p. 634).Also concerned with social bonds and childhood experience, Epstein, Botvin, and Diaz (1999) examined inner-city adolescents and the social influences they faced based on four domains: socioeconomic background, social influences to smoke, social and personal competence, and individual differences. The study was also based on the social learning theory and the problem behavior theory. These theories state that behaviors, like smoking, are socially learned, purposeful, and functional and result from the interactions of social and personal factors. Over the two-year study, 2192 junior high students form the New York City schools participated. All of the students completed a questionnaire each year over a four-week period that measured self-reporting smoking and cognitive, attitudinal, and psychological characteristics hypothesized to be related to smoking initiation. To ensure accuracy on the self-reporting questionnaire, two measures were taken: 1) the students were guaranteed that the information was confidential, and 2) each student was administered a carbon monoxide breath test. Questions ranged from gender and age to smoking habits, if any to assertiveness and decision-making skills to self-esteem and self-efficacy. An eleven-point smoking index assessed smoking frequency. The question asked, “How often do you currently smoke?” was followed by eleven possible answers. Choices ranged from one (never smoked) to eleven (a pack or more a day). All of the remaining questions were based similarly to that of the cigarette question. At the end of year two, the data was analyzed using statistical means. The significant findings in this study evolved while lookin...
