Time spent with friends who smoke and quit attempts among teen smokers.

Social interactions, as well as pharmacological effects, can reinforce smoking behavior in adolescents and pose challenges to smoking cessation. We hypothesized that time spent with friends who smoke would be inversely related to both the number and duration of previous quit attempts for teens receiving smoking cessation treatment. Demographic- and smoking-related data were collected from 98 adolescent smokers enrolled in an accruing smoking cessation study (68% female, 70% Caucasian, mean age 15.3 years). Among smokers who had at least one quit attempt, time spent with friends who smoke was inversely associated with the number of prior quit attempts (chi(2)=9.55, P=.0085) but not with their duration, suggesting a potential relationship between an adolescent's affiliation with smoking peers, smoking identity, and fewer quit attempts.