Susceptibility to smoking, which is defined as a lack of cognitive commitment not to smoke in the future, has been shown to be a predictor for adolescent smoking initiation in developed countries. This study aims to evaluate the utility of a susceptibility-tosmoke measure as a predictor of smoking initiation among adolescents in Kota Tinggi district, Johor Malaysia. Susceptibility to smoking was evaluated among 1763 adolescents at baseline using a two-item construct. At follow-up 12 months later, 1288 of the 1763 adolescents (73.1%) responded. Results showed 14.9% (n=188/1260) of the respondents were susceptible to smoking at baseline. Among the susceptible adolescents, 31.9% initiated smoking after one year. Respondents who were identified as susceptible to smoking by the measure were 3.7 times (95%; CI: 2.17- 6.30) more likely to initiate smoking compared to non-susceptible respondents after adjusting for gender, school locality, percentage of friends who smoke, father smoking, parental acceptance of smoking, and belief in the positive and negative consequences of smoking. The findings suggest that the susceptibility measure is a reliable predictor and can be used as a screening tool to identify adolescents who are at risk of initiating smoking.
Many studies on adolescent smoking have been conducted in Malaysia, but very limited information is available on smoking amongst lower secondary school male students (Forms 1 and 2). We present data from a baseline study in Kota Tinggi District, Johor on the psychosocial factors, stages of smoking acquisition and susceptibility to smoking initiation and their relationship to adolescent smoking. The study is the first wave of a 3-year longitudinal study which was conducted from March 2007 to May 2009, aimed to describe the prevalence of smoking among students in the lower secondary classes. A three stage stratified sampling was performed to obtain a sample. The Bogus Pipeline Method was employed to confirm smoking status. Prevalence of smoking was 35.5%. Smoking prevalence among students of schools located in the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) settlement areas (42.9%) was two-fold higher than in the rural and town schools combined (20.29%). Using the Fagerstrom scale, 90% of current smokers had lower addiction to nicotine. Smoking was associated with peer smoking [OR, 4.19 (95% CI, 2.57-6.82)], having a brother smoking [2.17 (1.31-3.61)], parental smoking [1.73 (1.17-2.80)] and locality where respondents attend school [1.94(1.11-3.39)]. The study indicates that, the prevalence of smoking was high in all areas especially FELDA settlement areas. Measures such as teaching of skills to resist social pressure to smoke, establishment of peer support groups and involvement of parents in anti-smoking programs are recommended to curb the high prevalence of smoking among lower secondary school students in Kota Tinggi.
Merokok merupakan amalan yang dimulakan sewaktu usia remaja. Beberapa kajian yang dijalankan terdahulu di negara maju mendapati keluarga mernpakan faktor penyumbang kepada amalan ini. Meskipun pelbagai kajian di negara·negara rnaju, namun tidak banyak kajian berkaitan aspek ini yang dilaporkan di negara ini. Data kajian lverkait dengan pembolehubah kekeluargaan iaitu hubungan kekeluargaan, pandangan remaja tentang reaksi ibu bapa terhadap amalan rnerokok, struktur keluarga, jumlah ahli keluarga, status merokok di kalangan ibu bapa dan jantina dengan amalan merokok diperolehi dari 251 pelajarpelajar sekolah menengah (Tingkatan 5) (48.2% lelaki dan 51.8%
perempuan} di Daerah Kota Ting?. Johon Kajian ini mendapati sikap ibu bapa yang negatif dan bapa yang tidak merokok merupakan faktor pelindung dari amalan merokok. Hasil kajian mencadangkan faktor kekeluargaan memainkan peranan dalam mempengaruhi amalan merokok di kalangan jantina. Institusi kekeluargaan hendaklah dilibatkan dalam program pencegahan amalan merokok di kalangan remaja.
This study aims to determine the level of knowledge and to understand their attitude towards smoking and secondly to determine how sociodemographic background, smoking status and knowledge on the health risks of smoking contribute toward the development of such attitude. A total of 10,545 respondents age 18 years and above across Malaysia were interviewed. Results indicated that level of knowledge and attitude varied by gender, education level, smoking status, age, ethnicity and smoker category. Smokers' low education, poor knowledge on the dangers of smoking and being males had more positive or greater impact on their attitudes towards smoking. Formulation and implementation of a holistic programme aimed at increasing knowledge and attitude change that accounts for sociodemographic background of the population is recommended in order to bring down smoking rates and thus reduce smoking related health problems in this country.