Adolescent Egocentrism, Risk Perceptions, and Sensation Seeking among Smoking and Nonsmoking Youth

Abstract

A survey compared adolescents (ages 14 to 18) who have never tried smoking, smoke infrequently, or smoke regularly on three characteristics: adolescent egocentrism, risk perceptions, and sensation seeking. Sensation seeking exhibited the expected result by increasing with smoking experience. Contrary to past research findings, perceptions of sensation seeking and adolescent egocentrism were not related. Relations among egocentrism and evaluation of certain smoking risks varied by the level of smoking. Results are interpreted to suggest that egocentrism’s invulnerability component affects risk perceptions at the stage where adolescents decide whether to take up smoking; teens who smoke regularly appear to have put invulnerability aside and are more realistic about the risk.