How Your Decision to Smoke Was Formed

Attitude refers to your overall evaluation of smoking — whether you see it as good/bad, beneficial/harmful, pleasant/unpleasant. These beliefs are shaped by:

• 📺 Media and advertising: Before plain packaging and ad bans, tobacco companies spent billions normalizing smoking as sophisticated, rebellious, or relaxing. Even today, smoking in movies (Netflix, Amazon Prime) influences attitudes. Studies show adolescents who watch more smoking in films are 2-3x more likely to start smoking.
• 🏠 Family modeling: If your parents smoked, you were more likely to develop positive attitudes toward smoking — and 90% of smokers started before age 18 .
• 🧠 Outcome beliefs: “Smoking calms my nerves,” “Smoking helps me concentrate,” “Smoking makes me look cool.” These positive outcome beliefs outweigh negative ones (“It’s bad for my health”) during adolescence because health consequences seem distant.

Subjective norm is your perception of whether important people in your life approve or disapprove of smoking. This is often the difference between intention and action.

• 👥 Peer influence: The single strongest predictor of adolescent smoking initiation is whether your friends smoke. If your best friend smokes, you are 4-5x more likely to start . This is not just “peer pressure” — it’s also selection (smokers befriend smokers).
• 👨‍👩‍👧 Parental approval/disapproval: Even if parents smoke, their explicit disapproval (“Don’t you dare smoke”) can reduce subjective norm pressure. But if parents smoke and don’t object, the norm is strongly permissive.
• 🏫 School environment: In schools where smoking is common, the subjective norm shifts: “Everyone does it, so it must be acceptable.” In schools with strict anti-smoking policies and high enforcement, norms discourage initiation.

Perceived behavioral control (PBC) is your belief about how easy or difficult it would be to start smoking. It’s influenced by:

• 🔞 Access to cigarettes: Adolescents who believe they can easily buy cigarettes (without ID, from friends, from vending machines) have higher PBC and are more likely to intend to smoke.
• 💰 Cost: If cigarettes are expensive, PBC decreases — you think “I can’t afford to smoke regularly.” Conversely, cheap cigarettes (like native brands at $29/carton) increase PBC for price-sensitive smokers .
• 🚬 Perceived addiction risk: “I can smoke a few and stop anytime” — low perceived addiction risk increases PBC. Experienced smokers know this is false, but adolescents genuinely believe they won’t get hooked.
• 🛒 Availability: If cigarettes are sold on every corner, PBC is high. If they’re behind locked counters with ID checks, PBC is lower.

TPB doesn’t just predict initiation — it also predicts quitting behavior. The three factors work in reverse:

• 📉 Negative attitudes toward continued smoking: “Smoking is harming my health,” “I don’t like smelling like smoke,” “It costs too much.” The stronger these beliefs, the higher the intention to quit.
• 👥 Subjective norms supporting quitting: If your spouse/partner disapproves of smoking, if your children ask you to stop, if your doctor tells you to quit — these shift the norm toward cessation.
• 💪 Perceived behavioral control for quitting: “I believe I can quit if I try,” “I have access to NRT (patches/gum),” “My friends will support me.” High PBC for quitting predicts successful quit attempts.

TPB assumes behavior is planned and rational. But smoking initiation is often unplanned, impulsive, or accidental — especially the first cigarette.

• 🎉 Impulsive initiation: “I was drunk at a party and someone handed me a cigarette.” No intention, no deliberation — just situational opportunity. TPB would call this “behavior not predicted by intention.”
• 🍺 Substance co-use: Alcohol drastically lowers inhibitions and increases PBC (you care less about consequences). Many first cigarettes are smoked under the influence of alcohol, bypassing the rational deliberation TPB assumes.
• 🧬 Genetic predisposition: TPB is purely social-psychological. It doesn’t account for heritable differences in nicotine sensitivity, dopamine receptor density, or addiction vulnerability — which explain why some people become dependent after a few cigarettes while others can smoke occasionally and stop.
• 🌀 Addiction as loss of control: Once addicted, behavior is no longer “planned” — it’s driven by withdrawal avoidance. TPB describes initiation well but is less useful for understanding dependent smoking.

Understanding the TPB framework might help you make sense of your own smoking history — and possibly change your future behavior.

• 🤔 Question 1 (Attitudes): What did you believe about smoking before you started? Was it portrayed as cool, sophisticated, stress-relieving? Where did those beliefs come from (family, media, friends)?
• 👥 Question 2 (Subjective Norms): Who around you smoked? Did they approve of your smoking? Did anyone try to discourage you? How did their opinions affect your decision?
• 🎮 Question 3 (Perceived Behavioral Control): How easy was it to get cigarettes when you started? Did you worry about getting caught? Did you believe you could smoke occasionally without becoming addicted?

We can’t change your attitudes or your social circle. But we do influence perceived behavioral control through price and availability.

• 💰 Low price ($29-35/carton): For smokers who have already decided to smoke (intention is fixed), our prices increase perceived behavioral control — you can afford to continue your habit. This is why many commercial smokers switch to native brands during economic downturns.
• 📦 Convenient access: We deliver to every province, with discreet packaging and age verification. For rural smokers who struggle to find cigarettes locally, our service removes barriers (increasing PBC).
• 🔄 Reducing contraband appeal: Illicit cigarettes are risky and unregulated. By offering legal, affordable native cigarettes, we provide a regulated alternative that reduces the appeal of the black market.
• 📚 Informed choice: We provide educational content (like this article) so you can make planned, informed decisions about your smoking — exactly what TPB encourages.