청소년 흡연에 영향을 미치는 심리환경적 요인 = Psychological factors associated with adolescent smoking

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological factors related to adolescents` smoking. The data was collected from 7th through 12th graders (N=1710) enrolled in middle schools(N=873) and high schools(N=837) in the metropolitan area of Taegu. The participants completed a survey which asked for their demographic information and perceptions of stress, family functions, and self-efficacy The difference of the mean scores on the scales between the smoking group and the non-smoking group was compared with the t-test. Logistic Regression was applied to identify the predictors of smoking. Among the participants, a total of 18.7%(N=320) were current smokers. Most of the adolescent smokers reported that they started smoking during middle school, and 71% of the smokers had thought seriously about quitting but failed. There was higher smoking rate among vocational high school students compared to academic high school students. Smoking occurs within the context of a psychological environment. Current smokers were more likely than nonsmokers to report high stress, low family functioning, and high general self-efficacy. Our data provide support for the possibility of early identification and targeting adolescents at a high risk of starting smoking in middle school. Further study is needed to investigate smoking behavior among primary school children, to develop scales to measure smoking-specified self-efficacy for Korean adolescents, and to develop intervention programs targeting environmental factors as well as psychological factors associated with adolescent smoking.