Smoking among adolescents: relation to school success, socioeconomic status nutrition and self-esteem.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE:
Smoking is a worldwide health problem. This study was designed to evaluate the current status and to examine some potential factors affecting smoking among adolescents.

DESIGN:
Descriptive, cross-sectional study.

SETTING:
Community based study.

SUBJECTS:
Of all middle and high school students in Edirne, Turkey, 883 (6.83%) were randomly sampled. Mean age of the subjects was 15.0 +/- 1.8 years.

METHOD:
A self-applied questionnaire was used to collect demographic data, smoking status, school success, nutritional behaviour and self-esteem. The influence of different factors on smoking was evaluated with a logistic regression model.

RESULTS:
There were 89 active smokers (11.1%) with the critical age of 15 years for smoking commitment. 609 students (71.9%) were exposed to environmental tobacco smoke. Nutritional behaviour rich in vegetables (OR = 0.813), high school success (OR = 0.807), longer time reserved for homework (OR = 0.718) and eating breakfast (OR= 0.353) were significantly associated with a lower smoking rate. Having a mother, who smoked (OR = 2.155), increasing age (OR = 1.704), increasing number of siblings (OR = 1.351) and eating fast food (OR = 1.150) were associated with significantly higher smoking rates.

CONCLUSION:
An educational programme aimed at changing behaviour and attitude to tobacco smoking and including nutritional counselling with high emphasis on the transition age from early to late adolescence may be a successful primary prevention. In addition projects designed to improve school performance may lead to a reduction in smoking rates while providing an investment in the future of the teenagers.

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Author information

Author/s: Yorulmaz, F (F); Akturk, Z (Z); Dagdeviren, N (N); Dalkilic, A (A);

Affiliation: Trakya University Medical Faculty Department of Public Health, Edirne, Turkey.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Swiss medical weekly : official journal of the Swiss Society of Infectious Diseases, the Swiss Society of Internal Medicine, the Swiss Society of Pneumology (Swiss Med Wkly), published in Switzerland. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Aug; vol 132 (issue 31-32) : pp 449-54

Dates: Created 2002/11/28; Completed 2003/03/14; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12457303, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Humans
Logistic Models
Male
Parents
Questionnaires
Self Concept
Smoking - epidemiology; psychology
Socioeconomic Factors
Turkey - epidemiology

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