Risk Factors for Adolescent Smoking in Urban and Rural China: Findings From the China Seven Cities Study

Authors

C. Anderson Johnson, Claremont Graduate UniversityFollow
Huiyan Ma, University of Southern California
Jennifer B. Unger, University of Southern California
Chih-Ping Chou, University of Southern California
Ping Sun, University of Southern California
Paula Palmer, Claremont Graduate UniversityFollow
Yan Zhou, University of Southern California
jie Yao, University of Southern California
Bin Xie, University of Southern California
Peggy Gallaher, University of Southern California
Qian Guo, University of Southern California
Yonglan Wei, Chengdu Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Bin Chen, Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Zhanju Wang, Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Xu Wang, Health Education Institute, China
Haiping Duan, Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Yu Song, Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Jie Gong, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Stanley P. Azen, University of Southern California
Liming Lee, Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Document Type

Article

Department

Community and Global Health (CGU)

Publication Date

8-2008

Disciplines

Health Psychology | Mental and Social Health | Multicultural Psychology | Psychology | Substance Abuse and Addiction

Abstract

Cigarette smoking is rising among urban Chinese adolescents and poses a significant public health concern. The majority of Chinese youth live in rural areas, but most research on the risk factors for smoking has been conducted in urban areas of China. This study examined the associations between parental smoking, peer smoking, and low refusal self-efficacy and smoking among urban and rural Chinese youth.

This analysis used a cross-sectional sample of 3412 ninth grade students in urban and rural areas under the administrative jurisdiction of seven large cities in China. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to associate the risk factors with lifetime and current smoking, separately in boys and girls.

Adolescent smoking was not strongly associated with parental smoking. However it was strongly associated with peer smoking and low refusal self-efficacy across both the urban and rural samples. Students with lower refusal self-efficacy were approximately 5–17 times more likely to be lifetime or current smokers than those with higher refusal self-efficacy.

Smoking prevention interventions in China may need to focus on raising adolescents' refusal self-efficacy.

Rights Information

© 2008 Elsevier Ltd.

DOI

10.1016/j.addbeh.2008.04.004

Recommended Citation

Ma, H., Unger, J.B., Chou, C-P., Sun, P., Palmer, P.H., Zhou, Y., Yao, J., Xie, B., Gallaher, P.E., Guo, Q., Wei, Y., Chen, B., Wang, X., Duan, H., Song, Y., Gong, J., Azen, S.P., Lee, L., & Johnson, C.A. Risk factors for adolescent smoking in urban and rural China: Findings from the China Seven Cities Study. Addict Behav, 33(8), 1081-1085, 2008.