Associated Factors of Ever-vaping, from a Religious Perspective, among School-going Adolescents in Terengganu, Malaysia

Abstract

Introduction: Vaping is an emergent worrying trend among adolescents, which needs to be prevented. Previous studies have shown that religious-related factors have some influence on adolescent smoking but data on their effect on vaping is lacking. The objective of the study was to determine the significant factors associated with ever-vaping, including factors linked with religion, among school-going adolescents. Methods: The study was cross-sectional, involving 773 adolescents in Terengganu, Malaysia, aged from 13 to 18 years old, from 12 schools chosen using cluster random sampling. A validated questionnaire adapted from the Global School Health (GSHS) was used. Duke University Religion Scale (DUREL) Malay version was adopted to assess religiosity and a scale for perception on religious prohibition of substance use scale was added. SPSS version 23 was used to analyze the data, with ever-vaping as the dependent outcome via multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: Proportion of ever-vaping was 20%. The significant factors associated with ever vaping were being male (OR =10.10, p<0.001, CI =5.63, 18.12), ever-smoking (OR = 10.7, p<0.01, CI =5.66, 20.24) higher age (OR= 1.62, p<0.001, CI= 1.35, 1.93), family smoking (OR= 1.11, p=0.003, CI= 1.04,1.19) and perception of religious prohibition of substance use (OR = 0.92, p=0.009, CI =0.87, 0.98). An increase in one score of the perception scale reduced 8% odds for ever-vaping. Conclusion: Vaping has an increasing trend among adolescents. Perceptions of religious substance use prohibition was negatively associated with the trying of vape. Therefore, emphasizing on this perception may be an effective measure to counter this behaviour among adolescents.