Parental Migration, Self-Efficacy and Cigarette Smoking among Rural Adolescents in South China

Yang Gao,Sian M Griffiths,Liping Li,Joseph Lau,Emily Y Y Chan,Harry Zhang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057569

Yang Gao, Sian M Griffiths + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057569

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Abstract

ObjectivesMillions of children and adolescents in rural China are left behind as their parents move away for work. Little is known about the impact of parental migration on their smoking and self-efficacy. This study explores the associations among parental migration, self-efficacy and smoking.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among middle school students in Liangying Township, Guangdong, China. Socio-demographic and parental migration characteristics, as well as adolescent past 30-day smoking and self-efficacy level were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to estimate the risk of parental migration features for smoking and self-efficacy. Hierarchical regression was fitted to examine the relationship among parental migration, self-efficacy and smoking.Results2609 students (93.4%) participated into the study, 44% of who were with parents who had ever been or were currently migrating. Smoking prevalence was 9.7% in boys and 0.9% in girls. Paternal migration was protective for adolescent smoking, whilst maternal migration increased the risk. Both paternal and maternal migration had adverse effects on self-efficacy, a strong influencing factor for smoking. No significant relationship was found between other migration features and smoking and self-efficacy. The smoking risk of maternal migration was partly mediated by self-efficacy. There were no differences between boys and girls.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that adolescents whose mothers migrate from home to work elsewhere are at elevated risk for smoking. Improving self-efficacy may be an effective means to keep adolescents away from smoking, especially for those with maternal migration.

Highlights

The current tobacco epidemic is the leading preventable cause of death
In this study we explored whether there was any difference between paternal and maternal migration in their associations with adolescent smoking, whether the associations were similar among boys and girls, and whether any features of migration contributed to the associations
Almost all students’ ethnicity was Han (99.1%), .90% of students reported parents as their guardians, half of whom had an education level of primary school or below, and around 60% of students rated their families in the lower half of perceived living standard

Summary

Introduction

It is estimated that globally one out of 10 adult deaths are contributed from cigarette smoking and nearly 6 million people per year die from either tobacco use or exposure to tobacco smoke [1]. Near 60% of Chinese males are current smokers, whilst only 4% of females currently smoke [1,2]. In terms of children and adolescents, the current smoking prevalence reported by different studies varied from 2.7%–17.1% for boys and 0.8%–6.6% for girls [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. A slight decrease in smoking has been observed among adult males in the past decade, child and adolescent smoking has been continuously increasing, especially among rural boys [2]

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