Health Promotion International, Vol. 8, No. 2, 95-102, 1993
© Oxford University Press 1993
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Young women and smoking: towards a sociological account
The University of the West of England, Faculty of Health and Community Studies Bristol, UK
Address for correspondence: Address for correspondence: Norma Daykin The University of the West of England Faculty of Health and Community Studies St Matthias, Oldbury Court Fishponds Bristol United Kingdom
This paper examines existing explanatory models used in the study of young women and smoking and attempts to build on recent sociological accounts which have examined smoking as a response to the stresses of caring and povery among women with young children. It is argued that strategies to reduce smoking amongst young women are unlikely to be successful unless they are grounded in an understanding of the material and cultural constraints and pressures which result from gender inequalities during the transition to adulthood.
Ironically, it is often assumed that young women's increased smoking rates reflect both increased market power among young people and relative equality between males and females. In this paper it is argued that a material explanation is needed, but that, in order to avoid the determinism of some structural accounts, this explanation must be grounded in an exploration of the interrelationship between social processes and divisions and individual behaviour.
The findings reported here are drawn from a study of young women's experience of the transition from school to the labour market during the late 1980s. A year after a survey of fifth formers was carried out a smaller sample of young people were interviewed and the smoking careers of 25 young women examined. Smoking is seen in the broader context of the paradoxes which shape young women's lives during this period. For example, whilst the transition to adulthood is often associated with notions of independence, the lives of young women are often constrained, both by the structures of the labour market and by familial expectations. Further, adult femininity involves the acquisition of responsibility for the health and well being of others at the same lime as autonomy and independence may be undermined by economic and cultural realities. The paper ends by commenting on the implications for health promotion and for future research.
Key words: young women; smoking; sociological accounts
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