Young adults’ smoking perceptions and behaviors in rapidly modernizing collectivist societies: insights from the UAE through a social cognitive lens

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

Publication Date

12-1-2026

Abstract

While smoking behaviors are well-studied and understood in individualistic Western societies, fewer studies on tobacco use have been conducted in collectivist, rapidly modernizing cultures. A growing number of young adultsacross the wider Middle East are taking up smoking, but little is known about the psychosocial drivers of these young people’s smoking initiation and cessation motivation. With the guidance of Social Cognitive Theory, this study aimsto explore the psychosocial and cultural drivers of smoking initiation and cessation among young Emiratis. Byinterviewing young smokers in a typical Arab country, this research is expected to gain insights into perceptions regarding smoking among young adults in these rapidly modernizing societies and provide implications for intervention. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 young Emirati smokers in 2022, lasting 30–45 min each. Data were analyzed using a thematic approach to identify key patterns and insights. The results indicate that female smokers may take smoking as an act of rebellion against cultural prohibitions forwomen, while males view smoking as a symbol of adulthood. Participants have high self-efficacy in quitting smoking, but they have low quit intention. Female participants may quit for pregnancy or children, but not for their husbands, even in this patriarchal cultural context. One’s image, rather than health, is a more salient motivator for smoking cessation intention. Participants reported insufficient family education, limited media exposure to anti-smoking messages, and low awareness of professional cessation services. Theoretical contributions are summarized toadvance social cognitive theory. This study enriches the literature on smoking by providing unique insights into an under-researched population in a rapidly modernizing collectivist society. The findings extend Social Cognitive Theory by proposing the following concepts: context-embedded observational learning, cultural symbolism override effect, environmental signal fracturing, and gendered self-efficacy. The study provides valuable implications for tobacco control strategies in similar contexts globally.

ISSN

2662-9992

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Volume

13

Issue

1

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Psychology (0.61) | Perception (0.59) | Social psychology (0.56) | Social cognitive theory (0.55) | Collectivism (0.54) | Cognition (0.44) | Developmental psychology (0.32) | Context (archaeology) (0.31) | Social cognition (0.3) | Social influence (0.28) | Government (linguistics) (0.28) | Social perception (0.28) | Lens (geology) (0.26) | Population (0.26)

Scopus ID

105043748172

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

yes

Open Access Type

Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series

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