Table 2 Themes defining adolescents' perceptions about smokers.

["He(MS*) would be in some tension", "He(MS) would be in some feeling, which would pain his heart", "Devadas ^± "], ["she(FS^{^}) is under tension/depression"] - male students

["He(MS) is depressed and needs help", "(MS smokes) Because of tension", "Home problem or love failure", "His(MS's) personal feeling like disappointment of love"], ["(FS smokes) to forget sadness in the life", "She(FS) may have some problem", "My feeling is that they(FSs) use whenever they are depressed"] - female students

Against family values/norm

["He(MS) is left free by their parents", "How unlucky are his(MS's) family members"], ["She(FS) has not grown up properly", "They(FSs) are not fit to be parents"] - male students

["He(MS) doesn't have care for his children who might learn to use tobacco from him], ["(FS) has a very bad family background"] - female students

Not aware of harms of tobacco

["(MS) lacks knowledge", "...not conscious of life and don't know the truth"], ["She(FS) is illiterate and has no idea of its dangerous consequences"] - male students

["He(MS) is not having any knowledge about tobacco", "(MS is) Unaware of consequences"], ["(FS is) unaware of consequences", "(FS) lacks knowledge and is nonsense"] - female students

Hatred/hostility/intolerance

["I feel like slapping him(MS) when he(MS) smoke in front of me" "I get irritated and feel like kicking him(MS)"], ["I would like to slap her(FS) or kill her(FS)", "She(FS) is not worth being alive"] - male students

["I hate them(MSs)", "I like to scold them(MSs)", "I like to slap him(MS) in the way"], ["I will like to kill her(FS)", I will like to slap her(FS)"] - female students

Dominant themes specifically defining perceptions about female smokers

Antithetical to Indian culture

["She is spoiling the social culture and is a great insult to women society", "She is not an Indian cultured women"] - male student

["They are insulting our culture", "She is not fit as a woman", "They are foreigners. They are from foreign land"] - female student

Bad character

["I feel she is a prostitute"] - male students

["I think she is a very bad women", "Being a girl how can she even lose her standards?"] - female students

Gender power

["She may think that a man can smoke then why can't a woman do that, because men and women should be equal", "She thinks we (women) are better than men in smoking"] - male students

["She thinks that she is compared to men", "Crazy! Don't ever try to compete with men what so ever it matters"] - female students