The Correlation between Nicotine Dependence Level and Anxiety in Indonesian Adolescent Smokers

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Smoking behavior in Indonesia increases from year to year. The adverse effects of smoking do not appear directly after the cigarette use, but they will be seen in a few months or even in several years. The adverse effects of smoking include nicotine dependence, and anxiety disorder felt as a part of withdrawal symptoms. AIM: This research aims to identify if there is a correlation between nicotine dependence level and anxiety level in adolescents. METHODS: This study is non-experiment research with a quantitative method and a cross-sectional approach. The sample of the study was 44 people. Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence was used as the instrument to measure the nicotine dependence level, while the instrument for anxiety level was carried out using the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale. RESULTS: The correlation analysis between the level of nicotine dependence and anxiety conducted using Spearman rho non-parametric correlation analysis obtained a significant value of 0.0001 (p > 0.05). The value of r = 0.979 showed a positive and robust correlation between nicotine dependence and anxiety level. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that there is a strong and positive correlation between the nicotine dependence level and the anxiety level in adolescents.