Who are the adolescents who stop smoking?
In most industrialised countries, the number of adolescent smokers has increased dramatically during the past several years. Encouraging smokers to quit constitutes one of several methods to control smoking. To improve our understanding of quitting during adolescence and help professionals address the specific attributes and needs of those who quit, we compared the characteristics of youth who report having quit (former smokers, FS) with those of both "regular" smokers (RS) and nonsmokers (NS). As part of the Swiss Multicentre Adolescent Survey on Health, anonymous self-administered questionnaires were distributed to a national representative sample of 9268 15- to 20-year-old teenagers. A multiple logistic regression analysis showed FS to differ from NS for the following variables: suicide attempt (odds ratio, OR 2.10); sleeping difficulties (OR 1.67); delinquency (1.61); assault (OR 1.55); painting of graffiti (OR 1.52); shoplifting (OR 1.51); dissatisfaction with academic choices (OR 1.46); suffering from back problems (OR 1.31); belonging to a sports club (OR 0.78); receiving good marks at school (OR 0.75); and having a positive future expectation with regard to health (OR 0.74). FS differed from RS for the following variables: practising sport (OR 2.18); scouting (OR: 1.97); shoplifting (OR 0.63); tardiness (OR 0.63 and having many friends (OR 0.59).


CONCLUSIONS
Former smokers resemble regular smokers as far as mental health and general health are concerned, whereas they behave similarly to nonsmokers in the field of social and sports activities.
Bonard
L
L
Institut Universitaire de Médecine Sociale et Préventive (IUMSP) and Unité Multidisciplinaire de Santé des Adolescents (UMSA), Hospices Cantonaux, Rue du Bugnon 17, 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Janin-Jacquat
B
B
Michaud
P A
PA
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology