title: Smoking in korean-chinese middle school students: prevalence and risk factors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cigarette smoking is rising among Chinese adolescents, and adolescent smoking is a crucial public health issue. Despite the number of studies that have explored the prevalence and various aspects of adolescent smoking in China, we know of no data currently available on smoking behavior among Korean-Chinese adolescents.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article studies the prevalence of smoking and factors affecting smoking behavior among Korean-Chinese adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected from six Korean-Chinese middle schools in the Yanbian region of Jilin, China. The differences in data from three groups (never-smokers, ever-smokers, and current smokers) were analyzed using χ2 tests and analysis of variance. Logistic regression was used to analyze the factors affecting smoking behavior.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 2,116 participants, 7.3% of the boys and 3.7% of the girls were ever-smokers, and 7.2% of the boys and 0.8% of the girls were current smokers. Differences among groups in terms of gender, number of friends currently smoking, parental smoking behavior, academic performance, alcohol consumption, and intention not to smoke were all significant (p < .001, .05). Compared with never-smoking and ever-smoking students, currently smoking students perceived a significantly less antismoking environment (p = .000). The smoking rate was 2.24 times higher in boys than girls and was 11.57 times higher in students who had three smoking friends compared with those who had no smoking friends.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings may help develop more effective intervention approaches to prevent adolescent smoking. Preventive programs should involve smoking parents by increasing the value they place on their children's nonsmoking behavior and equipping them to help deter adolescent smoking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Yanbian University of Science &Technology, China. psalmpark@gmail.com
authors.forename: Soonbok E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Soon-Nyung
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Wenying
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Hyang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D010379:Peer Group; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000208:ethnology*; D012931:Social Environment; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires