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Week 51/ 2006: Young smokers are likely to smoke as adults

As we know, habits that have been learnt as a child are difficult to shake off. Meri Paavola, M.Sc.(Health Care), has shown in her doctoral dissertation that this is unfortunately true in the case of smoking also.

For her dissertation, Paavola studied the changes in smoking patterns from adolescence to adulthood and the impact of a prevention programme on smoking behaviour. Her material consisted of data on young people’s smoking over 15 years, gathered through the North Karelia Youth Project. Nearly a thousand young people completed a questionnaire at six different times, the first time when they were 13 years of age and the last when they were 28.

According to the study, the majority of those who smoked when young continued to do so in adulthood. Only one-third of 15-year-old smokers had been able to shake off the habit by the time they were 28.

Paavola’s dissertation reveals that smoking among young people can be prevented or at least postponed through appropriate school and community programmes. “A programme based on improving young people’s social skills delayed young people from starting smoking for several years,” says Paavola.

According to her, programmes are clearly needed for young people who have finished comprehensive school and for young adults. Half of the respondents who still smoked at the age of 28had started smoking after the age of 15.

Paavola finds that the most important factors predicting smoking in the various age groups were previous smoking and friends who smoked. Young people most likely to smoke came from lowest socio–economic groups. Smoking was also linked to higher alcohol use and a lower level of physical activity. “The results prove the importance of methods based on social influence in smoking-prevention programmes and their targeting at those who have other unhealthy habits in addition to smoking.”

Text and photo: Simo Salmela
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Translation: Valtasana Oy