Do researcher-derived classifications of youths' smoking behavior correspond with youths' characterizations of their behavior?

AimsTo describe the categories employed by researchers to describe adolescents' smoking behavior and to determine how these various categorizations compare with youths' self-defined smoking status.Study selectionA search of the PubMed and Science Direct databases, limited to articles in the English language, published between January 2002 and November 2007.Data extractionEmploying a mixed methods approach, several categories of youths' smoking status were obtained from a literature review and subsequently reproduced by using responses to detailed questionnaire items. Associations between the researcher-derived smoking categories (from the literature review) and the youths' self-reported smoking status, from survey data, were determined.ResultsThe categories of smoking status, from the literature review, varied in definition and in the number of categories. The associations between the literature-based categories and the youths' self-reported smoking status were modest.ConclusionsResearcher-derived categories of youths' smoking status may not adequately encapsulate youths' perceptions of their own smoking behavior. There is a need to better describe adolescents' smoking behavior with special consideration of the ways in which adolescents characterize their own smoking behavior.