Network-induced smoking inequalities among adolescents in Europe

Half of those who start smoking die as a result. People of lower socio-economic status are over-represented among smokers. Socially and economically underprivileged individuals are more likely to use tobacco, smoke for longer, experience relapses when they try to quit smoking, and die prematurely. Tobacco control policies have been implemented but do not seem to have decreased socio-economic inequalities in smoking. This thesis attempts to demonstrate the extent to which peer effects in schools contribute to buffering smoking denormalization and increasing socio-economic inequalities in smoking. Acceptance of smoking in low-SES groups, and social capital based on academic performance and smoking mitigate the effects of denormalization strategies and protect smokers from stigmatization. It may, therefore, be possible to create school tobacco policies that take adolescents’ SES into account and change the smoking climate without contributing to the stigmatization of individual smokers.