title: Household and school-level influences on smoking behavior among Korean adolescents: a multilevel analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Trends in adolescent smoking rates in South Korea have not shown substantial progress due to a lack of effective anti-smoking interventions and policies in school settings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We examined individual- and school-level determinants of adolescent smoking behavior (ever smoking, current smoking, and daily smoking) using the nationally representative fifth Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey conducted in 2009. We found that students in coeducation schools or vocational high schools had greater risks of smoking for each type of smoking behavior than those in single-sex schools or general high schools, respectively even after controlling for individual-level factors. Higher family affluence and higher weekly allowances were associated with greater risks of ever smoking, current smoking and daily smoking even after controlling for parental education and other confounders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Whilst caution is required in interpreting results given the cross-sectional nature of the study, our findings suggest that in addition to raising the price of cigarettes, youth anti-smoking interventions in South Korea may benefit from focusing on coeducation schools and vocational high schools.
authors.affiliation: Public Health Joint Doctoral Program, San Diego State University & University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jongho
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.affiliation: JW LEE Center for Global Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Juhwan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawachi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055361:Multilevel Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D062486:Public Health Surveillance; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012574:Schools; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students