Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (7)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Rugkåsa, J.
Right arrow Articles by Knox, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Rugkåsa, J.
Right arrow Articles by Knox, B.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Health Education Research, Vol. 16, No. 2, 131-142, April 2001
© 2001 Oxford University Press

Smoking and symbolism: children, communication and cigarettes

J. Rugkåsa, O. Kennedy, M. Barton1,, P. S. Abaunza2,, M. P. Treacy3, and B. Knox

Northern Ireland Centre for Diet and Health, School of Biomedical Sciences and
1 Department of Psychology, University of Ulster, Coleraine BT52 1SA, UK,
2 School of Nursing, Universidad de Cantabria, 39005 Santander, Spain and
3 School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

Health promotion, with its concern with empowerment and autonomy, must recognize the agency of its target population. Based on 85 in-depth interviews with 10- to 11-year-old children throughout Northern Ireland, this paper argues that it is necessary to focus on the social relations of children if we are to understand and prevent childhood smoking. Addressing the complex issue of childhood agency, it is argued that regardless of various restrictions to their choices, children can act intentionally in constructing their identities. Instead of viewing the smoking children as communicating with the adult world, we focus on smoking as negotiation of status within the children's culture. Such negotiations utilize symbolism derived from and shared with the `adult world'. It is important that those analyzing children's lives understand children's ideas and behaviour on their own terms. We must make sure that the very concepts in which the children's experiences are put are appropriate ones. It is suggested that the metaphor `rite of passage' and terminology such as peer `pressure' versus adult `influence', commonly used to analyse the children's smoking behaviour, may actually conceal important aspects of childhood agency.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Health Education JournalHome page
S. Ioannou
'Eating beans ... that is a "no-no" for our times': Young Cypriots' consumer meanings of 'healthy' and 'fast' food
Health Education Journal, September 1, 2009; 68(3): 186 - 195.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Health Educ ResHome page
B. Milton, S. E. Woods, L. Dugdill, L. Porcellato, and R. J. Springett
Starting young? Children's experiences of trying smoking during pre-adolescence
Health Educ. Res., April 1, 2008; 23(2): 298 - 309.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Qual Health ResHome page
M. Treacy, A. Hyde, J. Boland, T. Whitaker, P. S. Abaunza, and B. J. Stewart-Knox
Children Talking: Emerging Perspectives and Experiences of Cigarette Smoking
Qual Health Res, February 1, 2007; 17(2): 238 - 249.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Health Educ BehavHome page
F. Cote, G. Godin, and C. Gagne
Efficiency of an Evidence-Based Intervention to Promote and Reinforce Tobacco Abstinence Among Elementary Schoolchildren in a School Transition Period
Health Educ Behav, December 1, 2006; 33(6): 747 - 759.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Health Education JournalHome page
J. Spratt and J. Shucksmith
Tobacco education in the primary school: Paradoxes for the teacher
Health Education Journal, March 1, 2006; 65(1): 5 - 13.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 HEALTH PROMOT INTHome page
J. Rugkasa, B. Stewart-Knox, J. Sittlington, P. S. Abaunza, and M. P. Treacy
Hard boys, attractive girls: expressions of gender in young people's conversations on smoking in Northern Ireland
Health Promot. Int., December 1, 2003; 18(4): 307 - 314.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.