An investigation of family factors that predict smoking among high school adolescents

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background In the last few decades, numerous studies and review papers have examined a wide range of potential risk factors in an attempt to understand adolescent smoking. In the majority of those studies, family is often regarded as an important element in the life of an adolescent. Method The authors investigated whether family factors such as child–parent relationship and parental educational level are predictors of adolescent smoking status in three school types using archival data. Both Spearman correlation and Chi-square test of independence were used to examine the relationships. Results In viewing all the school types as one, the result showed that at (rho = .148, n = 751, p < 0.05), a significant positive relationship existed between child-father relationship and adolescent smoking but not with child–mother relationship. However, in controlling for school types, the Chi-square test of independence revealed (Imam Hatip high school (X2(8) = 7.121, p > 0.05), Anadolu high school (X2(8) = 12.423, p > 0.05) and Vocational high school (X2(8) = 17.744, p < 0.05) a relationship between child–mother relationship and adolescent in Vocational high school. As to whether the influence of child–father relationship on adolescent smoking differed in terms of school types, result suggested a relationship existed in all the three school types (Imam Hatip high school (X2(8) = 30.965, p < 0.05), Anadolu high school (X2(8) = 21.241, p < 0.05), and Vocational high school (X2(8) = 30.804, p < 0.05).