Smoking Behavior Change after a Tobacco Price Increased in Korean Adolescence

Abstract

Background: These days, tobacco prices have increased. In this situation, we want to know how to help adolescent smokers (who have continued smoking since January 1, 2015) stop smoking with the non-price dependent smoke-free policies. Methods: Based on the Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey, 2015, subjects were 7,118 Korean adolescent smokers who were divided into two groups: (1) those who currently smoked and (2) those who had stopped or reduced smoking. We used a chi-square test to analyze the relationship between general characteristics, smoking-related characteristics, subjective characteristics, and smoking behavior change. We also used multiple logistic regression to analyze the factors that influenced adolescents to continue smoking even though tobacco prices increased. Results: After tobacco prices increased, 72.1% of adolescents continued smoking and 27.9% either reduced or stopped smoking. The results of the multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the following factors significantly influenced adolescents to continue smoking despite the rise in tobacco prices: being female, no exposure to anti-smoking campaign, high levels of stress, unhappiness, a large weekly allowance, suicidal ideation, no anti-smoking education at school, and a daily smoking habit. Conclusion: The non-price dependent smoke-free policies need to be executed for Korean adolescent smokers who are not self-motivated to stop smoking. Nonsmokers who are at a high risk to start smoking must be screened early and stopped from attempting smoking.