<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> Objectives: Research identifying reliable and country-specific predictors of smoking is needed in order to develop effective adolescent smoking prevention programmes. The objective of this study was to assess the cognitive and socio-demographic factors associated with smoking onset among Romanian teenagers, using both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. <bold>Methods: </bold>The data were obtained from a two-wave, one-year longitudinal study carried out among 316 senior high school non-smokers from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Questionnaires assessed smoking behaviour, attitudes, social influence, self-efficacy and intention regarding smoking (motivational variables) as well as different sociodemographic features. <bold>Results: </bold>The cross-sectional analyses showed that socio-demographics and motivational variables were strongly associated with smoking behaviour; the explained variance was 76%. The longitudinal analyses revealed that four variables explained 33% of the variance in change of status from non-smoking to regular smoking over a period of one year. Regular smoking onset after one year was predicted by baseline low self-efficacy in refraining from smoking in different situations, having more smoking friends and playing truant from school. Having a brother was a protective factor. <bold>Conclusion: </bold>The results suggest that smoking prevention programmes in Romania should strengthen self-efficacy beliefs and resistance against peer modelling and help Romanian young people to develop skills and action plans to cope with pressure to smoke and challenging situations.</abstract>

Objectives: Research identifying reliable and country-specific predictors of smoking is needed in order to develop effective adolescent smoking prevention programmes. The objective of this study was to assess the cognitive and socio-demographic factors associated with smoking onset among Romanian teenagers, using both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Methods: The data were obtained from a two-wave, one-year longitudinal study carried out among 316 senior high school non-smokers from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Questionnaires assessed smoking behaviour, attitudes, social influence, self-efficacy and intention regarding smoking (motivational variables) as well as different sociodemographic features. Results: The cross-sectional analyses showed that socio-demographics and motivational variables were strongly associated with smoking behaviour; the explained variance was 76%. The longitudinal analyses revealed that four variables explained 33% of the variance in change of status from non-smoking to regular smoking over a period of one year. Regular smoking onset after one year was predicted by baseline low self-efficacy in refraining from smoking in different situations, having more smoking friends and playing truant from school. Having a brother was a protective factor. Conclusion: The results suggest that smoking prevention programmes in Romania should strengthen self-efficacy beliefs and resistance against peer modelling and help Romanian young people to develop skills and action plans to cope with pressure to smoke and challenging situations.

Predictability of smoking onset among Romanian adolescents 

Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Slovenian Journal of Public Health

{"article-title":"Predictability of smoking onset among Romanian adolescents"}

Objectives: Research identifying reliable and country-specific predictors of smoking is needed in order to develop effective adolescent smoking prevention...

Predictability of smoking onset among Romanian adolescents

Published Online: Dec 13, 2013

Page range: 78 - 88

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sjph-2014-0009

This content is open access.