Prevalence and Factors Associated With Cigarette Smoking Among Adolescents of Flat Pandamar Indah, Klang, Selangor

Abstract

Background:The tobacco epidemic kills more than 7 million people a year. The prevalence of smoking among Malaysians aged 15 years and over, remains high despite the implementation of several anti-smoking measures over the past decades. Therefore, the study is conducted to determine the prevalence and factors associated with cigarette smoking among adolescents. Materials and Methods:A cross sectional study design was conducted among adolescents of urban area in Flat Pandamar Indah in Klang. Purposive sampling was used to select the respondents. The dependent variable was cigarette smoking, defined as ever smoked at least one puff. The independent variables were socio-demographic factors, environmental factors, awareness and knowledge on smoking, and psychosocial factors. Data of the study population was collected using pretested self-administered questionnaires. Descriptive analysis and bivariate analysis (chi-square test) was used to analyse the data by IBM Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 25.0. Ethical approval from Ethics Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects, University Putra Malaysia and consent from parents of the respondents were obtained.Result: A total of 138 respondents was involved in this study. The prevalence of cigarette smoking was 27.5%. Factors significantly associated with cigarette smoking were gender (p=0.001), pocket money (p=0.003), cigarette advertisement influence (p=0.001), awareness on smoking (p=0.004), knowledge on smoking (p=0.001), anti-smoking attitudes (p=0.001) and belief factors (p=0.001). Conclusion:The factors significantly associated with cigarette smoking among adolescents in this study were modifiable factors, except for gender. Therefore, intervention can be carried out to prevent cigarette smoking among them.