School of Accounting, Finance and Economics, The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji.
School of Internet Economics and Business, Fujian University of Technology, Fujian, China.
PLoS One. 2021 Oct 29;16(10):e0258669. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258669. eCollection 2021.
High prevalence of tobacco smoking among young students remains a serious health concern given the positive association between smoking and NCDs. More recently, some studies also noted young smokers were more likely to get infected with COVID-19 compared to non-smokers. This study aims to assess the factors that influence smoking uptake among young students in Samoa. Findings from this study will provide valuable insight to policymakers and health authorities on policies and strategies to combat smoking among youth in Samoa and the Pacific Island Countries (PICs).
The 2017 Global Youth Tobacco Survey data of Samoa, available from the World Health Organization is used in the analysis. We use the multinominal logistic model to investigate the effects of socio-economic and demographics factors on young students' uptake of smoking in Samoa.
The main findings of this study indicate that sex, age, friendship, parental smoking, family discussion, outside influence, pocket money, and mother's education are important determinants of tobacco smoking initiation among youths in Samoa.
Our findings contribute towards the evidence of the imperative health impact of friends, parents, and public smoking on students in Samoa. This warrants strategies that are effective in discouraging parents from smoking and implement measures that prevent smoking in public places. Moreover, educational efforts, particularly those that encourage more discussion at home settings on the harmful effects of smoking are strongly recommended. Parents are strongly encouraged to regularly monitor children's spending behaviour.
鉴于吸烟与非传染性疾病之间存在正相关关系，青少年吸烟率高仍然是一个严重的健康问题。最近，一些研究还指出，与不吸烟者相比，青少年吸烟者更有可能感染 COVID-19。本研究旨在评估影响萨摩亚青少年吸烟的因素。这项研究的结果将为政策制定者和卫生当局提供有价值的见解，以制定萨摩亚和太平洋岛国（PICs）青年吸烟问题的政策和战略。
本研究使用了世界卫生组织提供的 2017 年全球青少年烟草调查萨摩亚数据。我们使用多项逻辑回归模型来研究社会经济和人口统计学因素对萨摩亚青少年吸烟的影响。
本研究的主要发现表明，性别、年龄、友谊、父母吸烟、家庭讨论、外部影响、零花钱和母亲教育是萨摩亚青少年开始吸烟的重要决定因素。
我们的研究结果表明，朋友、父母和公共场所吸烟对萨摩亚学生的健康有重要影响。这需要采取有效的策略，劝阻父母吸烟，并采取措施防止在公共场所吸烟。此外，强烈建议开展教育工作，特别是鼓励在家中就吸烟的有害影响进行更多讨论。强烈鼓励家长定期监督孩子的消费行为。
