The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: The objectives of our study are to assess the factors associated with smoking among Romanian adolescents, to assess the differences between Romanian girls and boys regarding smoking and to identify possible similarities when comparing results with findings from the international literature.

Methods: The data were obtained from a cross–sectional study conducted in May/June 2004 in 5 high-schools from Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The study sample consisted of 473 students aged 15-17 years. There were used questionnaires, which assessed attitudes, social influences, self-efficacy, intention and behavior regarding smoking.

Results: The results show that 37.4% of the students were never smokers and 26.2% were quitters, while11.8% declared that they smoked occasionally and 24.5% reported constant smoking (at least once/week). Adolescent smoking was most strongly associated with low self-efficacy to refuse smoking in different situations (beta= 0.37; p<0.001) and with the intention to smoke in the next year (beta= 0.24; p<0.001). Other factors significantly related with smoking were peer influences, attitudes regarding smoking, male gender and different other risk behaviors. Mobile phone ownership by the family was significantly associated with smoking (beta= 0.06; p<0.01) and this finding suggests a higher social economical background of young smokers in Romania. The differences among male and female smokers regarding beliefs about attitudes, social influences and self-efficacy expectations were small, suggesting that no gender specific programs are needed. The results recommend a smoking prevention strategy strengthening self-efficacy beliefs, resistance against peer influences and a positive attitude towards non-smoking, findings which are comparable with those from other international studies.