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Health Education Research Advance Access published online on October 8, 2008
Health Education Research, doi:10.1093/her/cyn047
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Subjective attractiveness and perceived trendiness in smoking and snus use: a study among young Norwegians

N. Wiium1,*, L. E. Aarø1,2 and J. Hetland1

1 Research Centre for Health Promotion, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
2 Division for Mental Health, The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, PO Box 4404 Nydalen, N-0403 Oslo, Norway

Correspondence to: * Correspondence to: N. Wiium. E-mail: nora.wiium{at}psyhp.uib.no

In Norway, there has been a decline in smoking among adults and young people, but there has also been an increase in the use of snus, particularly among young males. Among females, snus use is less common. This study examines to what extent subjective attractiveness (SA) (the individual’s personal opinion regarding how attractive a person who smokes/uses snus is) and perceived trendiness (PT) (the individual’s impressions of how popular smoking/use of snus is) may contribute to explaining current trends in smoking and snus use among young people in Norway. Data were collected from a national representative sample of 2400 young people (age 16–20) by telephone interviews. Among males, regular smokers were also likely to be regular snus users and vice versa. SA and PT were significant predictors of their respective behaviours (smoking and snus use) and in some cases of the other behaviour. Smoking and snus use were perceived as unattractive, while snus use was perceived to be trendier than smoking. Males, more than females, perceived snus use to be attractive and trendy. This pattern is partly consistent with current changes in tobacco use in the Norwegian population.

Received on May 17, 2008; accepted on August 25, 2008


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