Family attention and tobacco smoking among adolescents in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.
This study examined the association between family attention and tobacco use among 5549 adolescent students in five Central American countries, Panama, and the Dominican Republic who participated in a survey of drug use in 1994. Drug use and other variables were assessed using an adapted version of the Drug Use Screening Inventory (DUSI) in Spanish. Students with the highest level of family attention had a lower occurrence of tobacco smoking than students with the lowest level of family attention. Country-specific analyses show similar associations. These findings underscore the need to understand tobacco use in Central America and neighboring countries and to test whether interventions aimed at enhancing parental-child attention, communication, and monitoring reduce the incidence of tobacco use among youths.
Gosebruch
Guillermo
G
Ministry of Health, Managua, Nicaragua.
Sánchez
Mauricio
M
Delva
Jorge
J
Wagner
Fernando
F
Anthony
James C
JC
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002489:Central America / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D004293:Dominican Republic / Q000453:epidemiology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010176:Panama / Q000453:epidemiology; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires