title: Parental smoking status, stress, anxiety, and depression are associated with susceptibility to smoking among non-smoking school adolescents in Malaysia.
abstract: Susceptibility to smoking is a reliable predictor of smoking initiation. This article describes its prevalence and associated factors among Malaysian school adolescents. Data were obtained from the Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) 2012, a nationwide representative sample of school adolescents. The overall prevalence of susceptibility to smoking was 6.0% and significantly higher among males (9.5%) compared with females (3.6%). Multivariable analyses revealed that males (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.34, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.70-4.18) and school adolescents of indigenous Sabahan or Sarawakian descents (aOR 1.62, 95%CI 1.21-2.18) were significantly more likely to be susceptible to smoking. Susceptible school adolescents had a slightly higher likelihood to have symptoms of stress (aOR 1.31, 95% CI 1.02-1.70), anxiety (aOR 1.19, 95% CI 1.01-1.40), depression (aOR 1.56, 95% CI 1.25-1.96), including those whose one or both parents/guardians were smokers (aOR 1.48, 95% CI 1.21-1.82; aOR 2.33, 95% CI 1.22-4.44, respectively). The findings from this study point out the need for proactive measures to reduce smoking initiation among Malaysian adolescents with particular attention toward factors associated with susceptibility to smoking.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia keelimkota@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Kuang Hock
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Zhuolin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Yi Yi
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Khoo
authors.affiliation: Institute of Public Health, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Jasvindar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaur
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Global School-Based Student Health Survey; adolescents; smoking; susceptibility to smoking