Search

It is known that family influences social trends, behavior and attitude as well as smoking. We conducted a survey in 534 adolescents from schools in Athens as part of the smoking prevention program “PARE ANASA” of HTS. The smoking behavior of parents at adolescents home is portrayed in Table 1 Significant statistical dependence was found between parental smoking and the tendency of children to smoke (p The corresponding percentage given that either the father or mother is an ex-smoker is 36.6%. When both parents smoke the percentage is 46.8% and are expected to have 2.44 more likelihood of smoking (OR=2.44, 95% CI:1.14-5.25, p=0.022). When the father/mother smoke, the % is about the same 29% and when another member smokes the percentage is 56.3%. When only guests are allowed, 37% of children reported to have smoked a tobacco product, and 28% when not allowed smoking. With permitted smoking, 45% reported to have smoked, i.e it is expected to have 2.38 times (OR=2.38, 95% CI: 1.25-4.61, p=0.009) more relative likelihood to have smoked some tobacco products and it is expected to have 3.83 times greater relative likelihood to have smoked in more days, >1cig. in the last 30 days (OR=3.83,95%CI:1.27-12.47, p=0.02) compared to children with smoking prohibition at home adjusted for other factors. Thus, the effect of parental smoking is paramount to the smoking behavior of adolescents, keeping the rules to maintain a smoke free environment at home can be functionally protective. Preventive programs should include parents’ education as they are role models.

The impact of peer group concerning heath attitudes is very important in adolescents. We conducted a survey giving 534 questionnaires in students of secondary schools in 9 schools of Athens. The percentage of adolescents that responded that may smoke in the future was 76.5%, while most of all their friends are smoking, 40% when their best friend is smoking, 43.9% when some of their friends are smoking and 12.6% when no one is smoking (Fig1). There is a significant trend in adolescents willing to smoke and the smoking attitude of their friends. (p≈2.2*10-16 88.2% of adolescents have smoked or tried a tobacco product when most or more of their friends were smoking, 40% when their best friend is smoking, 50.8% when some of their friends are smoking and 13% when none is smoking (Fig2). There is a strong correlation between the smoking attitude of adolescents and those of their friends (p≈2.2*10-16 There is a significant correlation between the days that adolescents smoked more than 1 cigarette the last month and the smoking attitude of their friends. p-value=2.505*10-5 There is a significant impact of peers smoking in both the smoking attitudes and trends of adolescent. Thus, prevention programs in schools should also include the development of peer pressure resistance skills.