Factors Related to Smoking Initiation among Female Vocational Students in Chachoengsao Province

Abstract

Smoking in young women is a major public health problem and is expanding
globally. The purposes of this research were to study the prevalence of smoking initiation
and the relationship of internal and environmental factors to smoking initiation among
female vocational students. A sample consisting of 255 female vocational students in
Chachoengsao province was selected by cluster sampling. The research instruments was a
questionnaire that included demographic and smoking data, attitudes toward smoking, and
smoking refusal self-efficacy and parental attachment. The reliability of the questionnaire
elements were .81, .75 and .95 respectively. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistical
analysis and Binary Logistic Regression.
The findings revealed that the smoking initiation prevalence was 15.7%. The significant
factors related to smoking initiation among female vocational students were low smoking
refusal self-efficacy (OR = 5.37, 95%CI = 1.94-16.77) and smoking peer pressure (OR = 49.04,
95%CI = 16.55-145.28). Age, academic success, attitude toward smoking, parental attachment,
parental smoking and peer smoking were not related to smoking initiation at the .05 level.
Study results contribute to the overall understanding and knowledge of smoking
initiation among female youth. These findings point to the need to focus on smoking
refusal self-efficacy enhancement for effective smoking prevention.