Socioeconomic predictors of smoking behaviour among school-aged children, in the Slovakia.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to describe the relationship between smoking habits and socioeconomic determinants among adolescents.


BACKGROUND
Tobacco use among young people is a formidable social health concern. The aim of this paper is to describe the situation in selected localities surveyed, and to elucidate the relations among experiments with tobacco in adolescent youth and behaviour of parents, friends and teachers and media influence. Thd objectives of this study are to describe patterns of self-reported smoking and to describe the association of trying smoking with other variables, such as social, or socio-demographics among a sample of young students.


METHODS
Global Youth Tobacco Survey to track tobacco use among youth across countries using a common methodology and core questionnaire. In Slovakia, GYTS was carried out at the turn of 2002 to 2003. A total of 4.594 students participated in the study.


RESULTS
The results indicate that the majority of the students (74.3%) have tried smoking where both parents are smokers. We found that gender, parents', friends' and teachers' smoking had a significant influence on whether the children ever tried smoking. A parent who smokes was found as a strong significant predictor for trying smoking in the group of students [OR = 1.6 (1.39-1.92)].


CONCLUSIONS
Predictors of smoking behaviour include parents', teachers' and friends' smoking. Public health interventions aim at conducting effective health promotion programs tailored to specific population groups and known predictors should be central to the design of such endeavours (Tab. 5, Ref. 18).
Marcinkova
D
D
Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Care and Social Work, Trnava University, Slovakia. dmarcin@truni.sk
Majdan
M
M
Gergelova
P
P
Rusnak
M
M
Pekarcikova
J
J
Baska
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018154:Slovakia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors