Influences affecting adolescent smoking behavior in China

Abstract

This study examined multiple influences on the use of tobacco by adolescents in China. Using the theory of triadic influences as a guide, we selected interpersonal, attitudinal/cultural, and intrapersonal constructs from baseline data to predict adolescent smoking 1 year later. We used prospective data from middle and high school students (N = 11,583) and their parents from the China Seven Cities Study, a longitudinal study that is evaluating the effects of changing economic and social factors on health behaviors including tobacco use. A multilevel regression analysis provided some support that each of the influences in the theory of triadic influences affects adolescent smoking in China. After adjusting for important confounders including age, gender, socioeconomic status, and smoking behaviors (lifetime and past 30-day) at baseline, we found significant risk factors within each of the three categories, including interpersonal influences (parental monitoring, good friend smoking, and peer smoking), attitudinal/cultural influences (school academic ranking, initial liking of smoking, and the meaning of smoking), and intrapersonal influences (susceptibility to smoking, and low self-confidence to quit smoking). Results suggest that the etiology of smoking among adolescents in China might be similar to that observed in western countries and that some of the techniques used successfully in prevention programs in those countries might be useful guides when developing prevention programs in China.

Affective decision-making deficits, linked to a dysfunctional ventromedial prefrontal cortex, revealed in 10th-grade Chinese adolescent smokers

“…The prevalence of past 1-month smoking, which includes both past 30-day and past 7-day smokers, was also similar to previous large-scale studies in the school students in China (Grenard et al, 2006;Johnson et al, 2006). Compared to other levels of smokers (never, ever and past 30-day), there was a significantly higher proportion of past 7-day smokers who had not made a firm commitment not to smoke in the next 12 months or cigarette offering from best friends, while there was no difference between past 30-day and ever smokers.…”

“…Third, in the study reported here, the past 30-day and past 7-day smokers sample sizes are relatively small. However, the prevalence and number of cigarettes smoked per day during the past 30 days in our sample was very similar to that found in other large-scale population studies of school students in China (Grenard et al, 2006;Johnson et al, 2006). Statistical significance on the decision task after controlling for demographic variables indicates that the effects are robust, and population representativeness of the sample, bolstered by inclusion of students from both major types of Chinese high schools, suggests that the findings are widely generalizable to Chinese youth.…”

The China Seven Cities Study (CSCS) consortium: adapting evidence-based prevention science from west to east

“…These findings were replicated in a related co-occurring trial with a multiethnic cohort in California [21]. From a theoretical perspective, influences on smoking uptake and progression were found to be much the same in China as the USA, including perceptions of social norms, dispositional characteristics (depression and impulsivity), and causal attributions [22][23][24][25]. One difference was that parent, teacher, and other adult smoking practices played a more important role relative to peer smoking in the Chinese than in the US population [22].…”

“…Other PR-TTAURC and CSCS studies have included an investigation of substance use among adolescent twin pairs in California and Qingdao to quantify the nature of environmental influences and how they interact with familial and genetic sources of variation in smoking-related behaviors [34]; an investigation of genetic factors underlying tobacco and alcohol use progression and their prevention [35]; a family study of cardiovascular risk factors in Qingdao [36], a study of the development and validation of a Chinese version of the Food Frequency Questionnaire for youth and adolescents [37]; an assessment of cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying tobacco and alcohol abuse [25][26][27]; and an assessment of tobacco use among rural Chinese children and their parents [38].…”

Identification and Structural Characterization of Avian Beta-Defensin 2 Peptides from Pheasant and Quail

“…Among Chinese adolescents, it is estimated that 33.3-47.8% of males and 12.8-24.3% of females have initiated smoking (i.e., have smoked at least once), and 15.0-18.30% of males and 1.7-4.0% of females are current smokers [29][30][31][32][33]. Despite substantial and documented tobacco control efforts in China, researchers have found only limited success in preventing or reducing tobacco use among adolescents [28,34].…”