Resistance to peer influence, smoking friends, cigarette and betel nut use, and gender among Pacific Islander youth.

ABSTRACT: The present study examined the relationships between resistance to peer influence and cigarette and betel nut use, as well as the potential mediating role of friends who use cigarettes and betel nut, among boys and girls in Guam. This study included 673 ethnically diverse students (49% female; M age = 12.7, SD = 0.89) from eight public middle schools. The mediation analysis demonstrated that higher resistance to peer influence for both cigarette and betel nut use was associated with lower cigarette and betel nut use directly and that this association was mediated by friends who used cigarette and betel nut products. That is, low resistance to peer influence for both cigarette and betel nut use was associated with a greater number of friends who smoke and use betel nut, which was linked wit

SUBMITTER: Kawabata Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11236956 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature