Etiology of Smoking Tendency: A Qualitative Examination of the Experiences of Young Smokers

Cigarette smoking has challenged the security and social context of youth, health and public health. On the other hand, the negligent view of smoking has pushed the society more towards the normalization of smoking and the youth are attracted to it more and more every day. The aim of this study is to study the etiology of the tendency to smoke by looking at the life experiences of young smokers.

This qualitative study was conducted in Tehran in 2020, using a phenomenological method and semi-structured interviews with 14 young people aged 20 to 35 years who were smoking daily and continuously. Participants were selected using purposive sampling method. Sampling continued until the saturation stage and then the collected data were analyzed by coding method.

Analyzing the participants' experiences led to the identification of 113 primary codes, 19 sub-categories, 8 subclasses and finally 2 main categories. The subclasses included cognitive falsification of the effects of smoking, smoking to reduce psychological problems, smoking to compensate for the feeling of inferiority, desire to smoke when in low spirits, feeling different when smoking, desire to smoke in response to art-induced emotions, easy access to cigarettes and the adverse effect of negative advertising. The main classes consisted of intrapersonal, extrapersonal interpersonal components of the endency to smoke in youth.

Examining the lived experiences of young people in smoking causes a deeper understanding of the components of smoking and consequently leads to a better and faster understanding of other young people of these experiences.