The Role of Physical Activity in Smoking Related Behavior of Adolescents : an analysis of smoking cessation programs

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine domestic and foreign adolescent smoking cessation programs and to review physical activity intervention for smoking cessation. For this study, electronic literature searches for studies of adolescent smoking cessation programs and physical activity for smoking cessation were performed in six databases. English and Korean articles were included. Smoking cessation programs in the United States, Singapore, England, and Korea were examined through literary investigation and five studies related to physical activity and smoking behaviour were included. The results show that foreign adolescent smoking cessation programs emphasized the advantage of physical activity and physical health, and used the power of physical activity to promote smoke free messages to young people. However, the program in Korea was a counseling based program and physical activity played a supporting role. Studies related to physical activity intervention suggested that physical activity may enhance smoking cessation success and reduce withdrawal symptoms. From these results, we concluded that physical activity may be useful to improve adolescents’ smoking behavior positively.