title: Smoking habits in a cohort of U.K. adolescents.
abstract: Active smoking is an increasing problem amongst U.K. teenagers. The smoking habits of a cohort of 14-16-year-olds were determined and the association between regular active smoking and domestic and social factors investigated. Current smoking habits of a cohort of 2289 14-16-year-olds were assessed using a simple postal questionnaire. Data concerning potential factors associated with active smoking were collected from questionnaire completed by parents. Nine hundred and sixty-nine (44.8%) children admitted to having smoked at some time, with 562 (30.0%) having smoked in the previous 12 months. Three hundred and six (14.1%) children were regular smokers and 158 (51.6% of regular smokers, 7.3% of total cohort) smoked daily. Age, number of other children in the household, parental smoking, smoking sibling(s) and living in a single parent household were all independently associated with regular smoking. Regular smoking was a significant problem amongst this cohort of teenagers. Living with other smokers, age, household size and living with one parent all predicted a regular smoking habit.
authors.affiliation: University Medicine, Southampton General Hospital, UK.
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Withers
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Low
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Holgate
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Clough
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology