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Adolescents’ Attitudes on Smoking Are Related to Experimentation with Smoking, Daily Smoking and Best Friends’ Smoking in Two Karelias in Finland and in Russia

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Abstract

Purpose

Becoming a smoker usually starts during adolescence and is a dynamic process involving experimentation before the establishment of daily smoking. It has been suggested that adolescents who smoke differ from those who do not in their attitudes to smoking. The purpose of this study was to find out whether attitudes related to smoking legislation and restrictions, social pressures in smoking and image of smokers are associated with smoking experimentation, daily smoking and best friends’ smoking.

Method

The data were gathered with a self-administered questionnaire in North Karelia, Eastern Finland and in the Pitkyaranta district, Republic of Karelia, Russia. The respondents were 15-year-old 9th grade pupils in local schools. In Pitkyaranta, the data analyses covered pupils in all eight schools in the area (n = 179). In North Karelia, the data analyses comprised of selected eight schools (n = 601). Data were analysed with exploratory factor analysis.

Results

The models revealed that attitudes related to restrictions and social pressure were significantly associated with experimenting with smoking [OR (95 % CI) 7.923 (5.787–10.847)], daily smoking [OR (95 % CI) 9.575 (6.727–13.628)] and the likelihood of best friends’ smoking [OR (95 % CI) 3.154 (2.579–3.858)]. The stronger the young peoples’ attitudes and opinions, for example, towards restrictions and with more difficulties in refusing smoking, the higher the likelihood for smoking experimentations, daily smoking as well as the likelihood for their best friends’ smoking. The country and factor interactions were not associated with smoking experimentations, daily smoking or best friends’ smoking.

Conclusion

Regardless of cultural background, adolescents who smoke have more positive attitudes to smoking, and perceive more social support for smoking, than do adolescents who do not smoke. The study stresses the similarity of the results in both Karelia’s despite the enormous differences in culture, economy and public policy.

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Acknowledgments

This study belongs to a larger Finnish-Russian collaboration and research project ‘Addressing challenging health inequalities of children and youth between two Karelias, AHIC’ (www.uef.fi/ahic).

Authors’ Contributions

AA, TL and KT planned the study. AA and HI carried out the statistical analyses. AA drafted the manuscript that TL, KT, HI and GL critically reviewed and commented on. All authors have approved the final manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nursing Science, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, 70211, Kuopio, Finland

    Annamari Aura & Kerttu Tossavainen

  2. National Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 30, FI-00271, Helsinki, Finland

    Tiina Laatikainen

  3. Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, 70211, Kuopio, Finland

    Tiina Laatikainen

  4. Hospital District of North Karelia, Tikkamäentie 16, 80210, Joensuu, Finland

    Tiina Laatikainen

  5. Statcon Ltd., Salo, Finland

    Hannu Isoaho

  6. State Budgetary Health Care Institution of the Republic of Karelia, Pitkyaranta, Russia

    Galina Lazutkina

Authors
  1. Annamari Aura
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  2. Tiina Laatikainen
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Correspondence to Annamari Aura.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Eastern Finland Committee on Research Ethics and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Funding

The study is a part of a more extensive project ‘Addressing challenging health inequalities of children and youth between two Karelias 2013-2014 (AHIC)’, which was administered by the University of Eastern Finland and received funding from the Karelia ENPI CBC programme (social wellbeing) by the European Union, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland. Corresponding author has received personal research grants from the University of Eastern Finland, Nurses Training Foundation (Finland) the Foundation of Marja-Terttu Korhonen (Finland) and the Foundation of Juho Vainio (Finland).

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Aura, A., Laatikainen, T., Isoaho, H. et al. Adolescents’ Attitudes on Smoking Are Related to Experimentation with Smoking, Daily Smoking and Best Friends’ Smoking in Two Karelias in Finland and in Russia. Int.J. Behav. Med. 23, 679–685 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-016-9566-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-016-9566-7

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