Predictors of Early Stages of Smoking Uptake among Thai Male Adolescents

Smoking uptake is a complex behavioral process comprised of several stages and remains a major public health problem, especially among Thai adolescents. Specific intrapersonal, attitudinal and social factors may function differently at various stages of smoking uptake. Thus, this study of 1,012 predominantly Buddhist Thai male secondary school students, who were living with their parents and had an average age 12.72 years, aimed to : identify the prevalence of various early stages of smoking uptake, examine predictors of various early stages of smoking uptake, and examine predictors of progression from one early stage of smoking uptake to another. Most were in the non-susceptible pre-contemplation stage, followed by the stages of initiation/tried, susceptible pre-contemplation, experimentation/addiction, and contemplation/preparation. Predictors of the susceptible pre-contemplation stage were : prevalence estimate, attitude toward smoking, parental approval of smoking and parental smoking. Tried stage predictors included : offers of smoking, attitude towards smoking, peer smoking and level of academic success. Predictors of the experimentation/addiction stage involved : attitude toward smoking, offers of smoking, peer smoking, parental smoking and level of academic success. Offers of smoking and parental approval of smoking were factors influencing advancement from the susceptible pre-contemplation stage to the initiation/tried stage, while peer smoking and attitude toward smoking predicted transition from the initiation/tried stage to the experimentation stage. Since only two students were in the contemplation/preparation stage, made the number was too small to demonstrate any significant findings, no predictors of this stage were calculated. The findings may prove useful in developing primary prevention smoking programs for Thai male adolescents.