Association between social climate for smoking and youth smoking behaviors in Taiwan: An ecological study

Background: Social acceptance of smoking is associated with smoking prevalence. Higher smoking rates and ETS exposure might be considered as important indicators for pro-tobacco social norms or social climate. Among studies indicating the association between youth smoking and adult smoking behaviors, most were from individual-level study designs. Objectives: An ecological study was conducted to determine the role of social climate, i.e., adult smoking behaviors and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), on youth smoking behaviors. Methods: Data on the smoking behavior and ETS of 16,688 Taiwanese adults were collected in 2004 by telephone administration of the Taiwan Adult Smoking Survey. Similar data on 22,339 junior high school students were collected in 2004 by school-based administration of the Taiwan Youth Tobacco Survey. City/county-level data were analyzed across 25 counties by descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression. Results: In both adult and youth populations, overall or gender-specific smoking prevalence and ETS varied widely across counties/cities. The current youth smoking rate within counties was significantly positively correlated with the current adult smoking prevalence as well as home ETS exposure in adults or youth. For male youth, a 1% increase in the rate of home ETS exposure reported by youth increased the current male youth smoking rate by 0.20% after controlling the female youth smoking rate and home ETS exposure reported by adults (p= 0.0197). For female youth, male youth smoking prevalence was the only variable that contributed significantly (Beta = 0.46, p< 0.001). Conclusions: Community health nurses should develop tobacco-control interventions that are tailored to support smoke-free environments by decreasing the social acceptability of smoking.