Youth peer crowds and risk of cigarette use: The effects of dual peer crowd identification among hip hop youth()

INTRODUCTION: Recent research has found that the Hip Hop peer crowd has a strong link to risky health behaviors, including tobacco use. The current study expands on previous research on the Hip Hop peer crowd by investigating the nuances of the effects on cigarette risk that Hip Hop identification has in combination with other peer crowds. METHODS: Targeted social media advertisements were used to recruit youth to complete an online survey. Participants (n = 4681) self-reported peer crowd identification via the I-Base Survey™, and cigarette smoking status. Smoking status was compared between peer crowd groups consisting of participants who had identification with only one peer crowd, and those who had identification with the Hip Hop peer crowd and one other crowd (i.e., Hip Hop dual peer crowd identification). RESULTS: Significant differences in cigarette status were observed among the dual and single peer crowd groups. Specifically, differences in cigarette Non-susceptible Non-triers and Experimenters demonstrated that youth who identified as Mainstream Only were at lowest risk while youth who identified as Hip Hop/Alternative had the highest rates of cigarette experimentation. There were no differences between peer crowd groups on proportions of Susceptible Non-triers. CONCLUSIONS: Examining dual peer crowd identifications provides a nuanced understanding of risk. Dual identification with Hip Hop seems to have differential effects compared to solo identification with other crowds, whereby Hip Hop identification may increase cigarette experimentation when combined with another peer crowd. Findings demonstrate the potential of considering multiple peer crowd identification to inform public education campaign development.