The 13th World Conference on Tobacco OR Health

Objective: Some Portuguese studies showed that girls are more likely to smoke than boys. The objective of this study is to identify differences between girls and boys in factors related with smoking behavior and to discuss implications for smoking prevention.

Methods: 7th grade students of 25 Lisbon District schools (n=3064, mean age 13.5 years, 50.9% were girls) filled in a questionnaire. Smoking behavior and differences by sex in a set of factors that could influence smoking behavior (attitudes, social influence, self-efficacy and intention to smoke in the next year) were analyzed.

Results: Girls smoked more than boys: 5.3% of girls and 4.0% of boys smoked weekly, and 4.0% of girls and 2.9% of boys smoked daily. Girls perceived more advantages and less disadvantages of smoking. They were more likely to believe that smoking contributes to getting attention from friends and feeling confident in company, and they were less likely to believe that smoking is stupid. Girls perceived more smoking among friends and best friend and had lower scores on social and emotions self-efficacy. The intention to smoke next year is higher among girls. These results provide suggestions about items that need specific attention in smoking prevention activities for girls such as to contradict the perceived advantages of smoking, specially those related with the management of social and emotional difficulties, to enhance the perceived disadvantages of smoking and to develop skills to cope with social and emotional pressure.