evaluation

• supporting evidence

  Simons-Morton and Farhat (2010) reviewed 40 prospective studies into peers and smoking and found that 39 showed a positive correlation between the two.
• supporting evidence explain

  this supports the link between the behaviour of peers and engagement in addictive behaviour, because the more likely peers were to smoke, the more likely an individual was.
• supporting evidence link/ca

  however, peer influence is only a strong theory for the initiation of engaging in an addictive behaviour.

  it doesn't really explain how long-term addiction occurs, and why some people become addicted, even when their friends may have stopped the addictive behaviour, and others do not.
• difficult to establish a causal relationship with this theory
• causal relationship explain

  it is difficult to know if peers influence the individual to engage in addictive behaviour, or if individuals choose friends because they also engage in the behaviour, or is it a combination of the two.
• causal relationship example

  Ennett and Bauman (1994) found that non-smokers at the start of their study who had friends who were also smokers were likely to be smokers at the follow-up, evidencing peer influence.

  there was also evidence of individuals changing friendship groups in line with their attitudes towards smoking, evidencing peer selection.
• causal relationship link

  this supporting evidence demonstrates how it is impossible to assign causality.
• this explanation has led to real-life applications which benefit society.
• applications explain

  if an overestimation of both the descriptive and injunctive norms of drinking behaviour leads to students consuming more alcohol, then it may be possible to design interventions to help combat this.
• applications example

  a trial in Welsh Universities by Moore et al. (2013) used beer mats, leaflets and posters displaying information targeting both descriptive and injunctive norms, using phrases like:

  "Those around you are drinking less than you think: students overestimate what others drink by 44%"

  "Few of us approve of people who drink to the point of losing it."
• applications link

  the hope is that by giving students more accurate information, it will help combat the overestimation of social norms.