USC study finds popular students more likely to smoke

While some high school students covet popularity, a joint study conducted by the University of Southern California and the University of Texas found that their lungs could suffer from it.

The study’s findings, featured online this week in the Journal of Adolescent Health, found a positive correlation between students’ popularity and smoking. The study, which focused on seven Southern California high schools, confirmed a trend observed in other USC-led studies of secondary school students in the United States and Mexico.

Thomas W. Valente, a professor of preventative medicine and lead author of three prior studies on the subject, said this phenomenon is anything but new.

“Adolescence is a time when students turn to others to figure out what is important,” Valante said in a press release. “These are four different samples, now, coming from different places — and the finding is consistent.”

The new study surveyed nearly 2,000 ninth and 10th grade students about their smoking habits, their peer’s smoking habits and opinions and who their five best friends at school were.

Students who were most frequently named as friends by others tended to start smoking earlier. The study also found that the students who thought their friends smoked were more likely to smoke, even if they were wrong, and that smokers tended to be friends with other smokers.

Valente said this trend has been consistent during the past decade.

“That we’re still seeing this association more than 10 years later, despite marginal declines in smoking, suggests that popularity is a strong predictor of smoking behavior,” Valente said in a press release.