Social norms regarding smoking are affected by various
phenomena in the social environment (such as tobacco advertising)
and influences from opinion leaders (such as celebrities and
experts). These conditions can differ a lot from time to time and
between different groups/countries.
Tobacco use is a learned and socially mediated behavior.
Experimenting with tobacco is attractive to children and youths
because of associations they learn to make between tobacco use and
the kind of social identity they wish to establish.
Youths are led to believe that tobacco consumption is a social
norm among attractive, vital, successful people who seek to express
their individuality, who enjoy life, and who are socially
secure.
50 years ago smoking was accepted as a ”normal” behaviour in
most Western communities.Denormalization of smoking has
increasingly been recognized as a key komponent of tobacco control
programmes in current times.
The adolescent learns in a peer context that tobacco use is an
acceptable or desirable behavior, despite initial negative
physiological reactions.
The young smoker discriminates between situations in which
smoking is socially acceptable or unacceptable. At the same time,
various environmental or situational cues, such as an ashtray, or
an empty cigarette pack, or a party, not only can suggest
acceptability but can also stimulate physiological responses that
reinforce the addiction to nicotine.
Hence, whereas the addictive power of nicotine drives a person
to use tobacco regularly and to maintain that regular use, it is
the power of these perceived social norms that persuades children
and youths to experiment with and initiate use of tobacco.
The social unacceptability of tobacco use throughout society in
the United States is anchored in changing attitudes toward health
and personal responsibility.
It now seems that tobacco use, just as other health-related
behaviors, is seen as "everyone's business" because the costs of
tobacco-related disease are borne by the whole society.
In general, the public seems to have accepted the idea that
unhealthy personal choices are of public concern. This attitude is
associated with widespread acceptance of the legitimacy of public
policies aimed at discouraging people from using tobacco,
particularly through taxes that require tobacco users to absorb the
social costs of their unhealthy choices.
For some in the public health community, the fact that
e-cigarettes mimic the sensation of smoking very closely in the
physical movement, the inhalation of a vapor, and so on means that
they could provide an alternative to conventional cigarettes and be
of tremendous benefit for smokers in quitting or reducing their
tobacco consumption. For others, e-cigarettes threaten to “become
one of the biggest blunders of modern public health.
The little research that is available indicates that
individuals who believe that their family, friends, or community
hold favorable views of using a tobacco product are more likely to
intend to use the product or actually use it. This relationship
between perceived social norms and use was present for both
e-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.