Social factors should not be underestimated in smoking behaviour among adolescents: A patriarchal experience from senior high school students in Turkey

Abstract

Introduction Smoking threatening especially younger age groups is a multi-factorial phenomenon on which socio-demographic, environmental and behavioural factors are effective. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of smoking among senior high school students in Kahramanmaras city centre, Turkey and to determine the effect of social contributing factors in order to provide an insight to future precautionary interventions including education strategies targeting not only the adolescent population, but also their families in a patriarchal method approach in Turkey. Methods This cross-sectional study included 1,537 senior students from 47 randomly selected high schools. Smokers group consisted of daily smokers and intermittent smokers except social intermittent smokers. Results The prevalences were found as 63.7% for trying to smoke at least once in a life time and 24.5% for smoking (21.1% for daily and 3.4% for infrequent smoking). The most frequent reason to smoke was curiosity (41.7%). Most of the participants (82.9%) did not want to quit. The mean Fagerström test for nicotine dependence score of daily smokers was 2.1±1.4. Significant odds ratios for smoking were found as being male (3.26), no talking with parents (1.85 only in males), no support from parents (2.27 only in males), self-violence (2.73 only in females), violence against others (1.87 only in males), a smoking father (1.58 in males and 2.53 in females), a smoking sibling (1.50 in males, 2.00 in females), a smoking close friend (10.69 for males and 3.78 for females). The smoking status of the mother was not found to be effective for neither the males nor the females. Conclusions If we intend to prevent the use of tobacco products especially prevalent among senior high school students and to construct an approach model for quitting to smoke more emphasis should be placed on social environment including the role models especially in communities with patriarchal structure. Funding Çukurova University Scientific Research Foundation No. TTU-2015-3448.

Keywords

• smoking behaviour
• adolescent