Health Education & Behavior(February 2001) Simons-Morton et al. / Social Influences Peer and Parent Influences on Smoking and Drinking Among Early Adolescents Bruce Simons-Morton, EdD, MPH Denise L. Haynie, PhD, MPH Aria D. Crump, ScD Patricia Eitel, PhD Keith E. Saylor, PhD Social influences can promote or discourage adolescent substance use. The authors surveyed 4,263 sixth- to eighth-grade students to assess the effect of peer and parent influences on adolescent substance use. The authors conducted separate multiple logistic regression analyses for smoking and drinking, controlling for grade, sex, and race. Positive independent associations with smoking and drinking were found for direct peer pressure and associating with problem-behaving friends. Independent negative associations with smoking and drinking were also found for parent involvement, parent expectations, and parent regard. In an analysis of interactions, peer pressure was positively associated with drinking for girls but not for boys and problem-behaving friends was positively associated with drinking for both boys and girls. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that associating with deviant peers promotes and that authoritative parenting protects against smoking and drinking. Experimentation with smoking and drinking increases dramatically during adoles- cence. Nationally, less than 10% of 6th graders report smoking or drinking in the past 30 days. 1 However, 19.1% of 8th graders and 33.5% of 12th graders report smoking and 24.6% of 8th graders and 51.3% of 12th graders report drinking in the past 30 days. 1 Early experimentation with these substances is associated with both immediate and lasting problems, including abuse and dependence, which can result in profound, long-term health and social consequences. 2-4 Therefore, a number of national health objectives address the prevention of adolescent smoking and drinking. 5 A variety of factors have been found to be associated with adolescent smoking 6,7 and drinking. 8,9 Peer influence is one of the factors most commonly linked to adolescent sub- stance use. 7,8 Peer influences to smoke or drink may be direct or indirect. Direct peer pres- sure may occur in the form of encouragement, dares, or actual offers of the substances. Indirect peer influences can occur when youth associate with peers who drink or smoke, Bruce Simons-Morton and Denise L. Haynie, Prevention Research Branch, Division of Epidemiology, Sta- tistics, and Prevention Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Insti- tutes of Health. Aria D. Crump, Department of Health Education, University of Maryland. Patricia Eitel, Menninger Foundation, New York. Keith A. Saylor, Neurosciences Inc., Bethesda, Maryland. Address reprint requests to Bruce Simons-Morton, Prevention Research Branch, Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, North Bethesda, MD 20892-7510; phone: (301) 496-5674; fax: (301) 402-2084; e-mail: Bruce_SimonsMorton@nih.gov. Health Education & Behavior , Vol. 28 (1): 95-107 (February 2001) © 2001 by SOPHE 95