Friends drive you to pick the butt more than kick it

Washington, June 12 (IANS) Friends can influence behaviour of your kid a lot and researchers have found that friends exert influence on their peers to both start and quit smoking, but the influence to start is stronger.

"What we found is that social influence matters. It leads nonsmoking friends into smoking and nonsmoking friends can turn smoking friends into nonsmokers," said Steven Haas, an associate professor of sociology and demography at Pennsylvania State University in the US.

However, the impact is asymmetrical - the tendency for adolescents to follow their friends into smoking is stronger, Haas explained.

There are a number of reasons why peer influence to start smoking is stronger than peer influence to quit.

"In order to become a smoker, kids need to know how to smoke, they need to know where to buy cigarettes and how to smoke without being caught, which are all things they can learn from their friends who smoke," Haas noted.

But nonsmoking friends are unlikely to have access to nicotine replacement products or organised cessation programmes to help their friends quit.

The findings may also apply to other aspects of adolescent behaviour.

"This may apply well beyond smoking," Haas said, adding, "There may be similar patterns in adolescent drinking, drug use, sex, and delinquency."