Culture & Prevalence of Smoking (DP IB Psychology): Revision Note

Cultural dimensions & smoking

• Geert Hofstede, a professor at Maastricht University, surveyed over 60,000 IBM employees from 50+ countries between 1971-1973 using questionnaires on cultural attitudes and behaviours

• He concluded that cultural dimensions can be used to describe universal patterns of behaviour across cultures

• One of the most researched cultural dimensions is individualism vs. collectivism

Key cultural dimension: individualism vs. collectivism

Individualistic cultures

• Individualistic cultures focus on ‘I/me’ rather than ‘we/us’

• They value independence, competition, and personal achievement

• Members of individualistic cultures may enjoy freedom and choice but risk isolation and lack of support

• Individuals may see behaviours such as smoking as personal choice, even if this is against health advice

  • This can contribute to higher smoking prevalence, as people prioritise personal preference or independence over health guidelines

Collectivist cultures

• Collectivist cultures focus on groups such as family, colleagues, or community

• They value interdependence, cooperation and group harmony

• Members of collectivist cultures may enjoy a sense of belonging and community but may feel reduced personal identity and autonomy

• Smoking may reflect group norms (e.g., shared activities such as smoking together), which can strengthen social bonds but also reinforce unhealthy habits

• In collectivist contexts, smoking may be shaped by group expectations, with individuals less likely to go against family or cultural norms that encourage tobacco use

  • E.g., in parts of the Middle East, the use of waterpipes (shisha) is a significant cultural practice

Evaluation of cultural dimensions

Strengths

• The large-scale, global survey produced extensive quantitative data which increases the reliability and generalisability of the results

• Research is regularly reviewed and updated, reducing the risk of temporal validity issues

Limitations

• The findings may be reductionist as they oversimplify complex cultural behaviours into rigid and inflexible categories

• Sample bias is an issue, as the IBM employees were not equally representative of all cultures

  • E.g., there were more employees from the USA and developed countries 

Prevalence of smoking between individualistic & collectivist cultures

• Prevalence rates show how common a disorder or behaviour (e.g., smoking) is within a specific population in a given time period

• For smoking, prevalence is measured as the proportion of people who smoked between two dates (e.g., Jan 2021–Jan 2022)

Cognitive dissonance & smoking

• Despite widespread knowledge of the serious health risks of smoking, many people continue to smoke

• This creates cognitive dissonance: holding two contradictory ideas at the same time (e.g., 'smoking is harmful' vs 'I am still going to smoke')

• This contradiction highlights the complexity of health behaviours and helps explain why smoking prevalence remains high in some populations

Research support for culture & prevalence of smoking

Pokhrel et al. (2018)

Aim:

• To investigate how individualism/collectivism influences adolescent risky health behaviours (including smoking) and the role of social self-control in regulating these behaviours

Participants:

• 716 high school students (mean age of 16 years; 48.5% male, 51.5% female) from the Bashkortostan Republic, Russia (traditionally a collectivist culture)

• Researchers also explored whether globalisation had encouraged more individualistic values among young Russians

 Procedure:

• Participants completed anonymous surveys measuring:

  • Risky health behaviours (e.g., smoking)

  • Individualism/collectivism values

  • Negative life events

  • Level of social self-control

 Results:

• Participants who scored highest on individualism reported the lowest rates of risky behaviours, including smoking

Conclusion:

• The cultural dimension of individualism vs. collectivism is a reliable predictor of smoking prevalence among Russian adolescents

  • This suggests that cultural values and globalisation may shape health behaviours in complex ways

Link to concepts

Responsibility

• Research on smoking is socially sensitive, the results of which could be used to stereotype or discriminate against specific social/cultural groups

• The results of research findings in this field should be reported carefully with researcher reflexivity as a priority

Change

• Prevalence rates of smoking may change for the better because of globalisation

  • Western media output (e.g., films, music videos, social influencers) rarely depict smoking as a desirable or fashionable choice which could impact the prevalence of smoking across a younger global audience