title: Gender differences in reasons to quit smoking among adolescents.
abstract: It is well established that many adolescents who smoke want to quit, but little is known about why adolescents want to quit and if reasons to quit differ across gender. The objective of this study was to determine if reasons to quit smoking differ in boys and girls. Data on the Adolescent Reasons for Quitting (ARFQ) scale were collected in mailed self-report questionnaires in 2010-2011 from 113 female and 83 male smokers aged 14-19 years participating in AdoQuest, a longitudinal cohort study of the natural course of the co-occurrence of health-compromising behaviors in children. Overall, the findings indicate that reasons to quit in boys and girls appear to be generally similar, although this finding may relate to a lack of gender-oriented items in the ARFQ scale. There is a need for continued research to develop and test reasons to quit scales for adolescents that include gender-oriented items.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention, University of British Columbia's Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Laura L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Struik
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche du CHUM (CRCHUM), Montreal, QC, Canada Department of Exercise Science, Concordia University, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Erin K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: O'Loughlin
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche du CHUM (CRCHUM), Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Erika N
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Dugas
authors.affiliation: Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention, University of British Columbia's Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Joan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bottorff
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche du CHUM (CRCHUM), Montreal, QC, Canada Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada jennifer.oloughlin@umontreal.ca.
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: O'Loughlin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: adolescent; gender identity; motivation; smoking cessation