Correlates of Chilean Adolescents' Negative Attitudes Toward Cigarettes: the Role of Gender, Peer, Parental, and Environmental Factors

Introduction: We examined the association of peer, parental, and environmental factors with negative attitudes toward cigarettes among youth from Santiago, Chile.

Methods: A total of 860 youth from Santiago, Chile, completed questions regarding their lifetime use of cigarettes, intentions to smoke, attitudes toward cigarettes, and questions that assessed peer, parental, and environmental factors.

Results: For both boys and girls, peer disapproval of smoking was associated with more negative attitudes toward cigarettes and peer smoking was associated with less negative attitudes toward cigarettes. Peer pressure was significantly associated with more negative attitudes toward cigarettes for girls only. Parental smoking was associated with less negative attitudes and parental control with more negative attitudes, but these associations were significant in the overall sample only. School prevention efforts and exposure to cigarette ads were not associated with cigarette attitudes. Difficulty in accessing cigarettes was positively associated with negative attitudes for boys and girls.

Conclusion: Smoking prevention efforts focus on attitude change, but scant information is available about the experiences that influence Chilean youth's attitudes toward cigarettes. Results from the current study suggest that prevention efforts could benefit from gender-specific strategies. Girls' but not boys' attitudes were influenced by peer pressure. Moreover, negative attitudes toward cigarettes were associated with lower current smoking in girls only. Parental smoking was an important influence on youth's attitudes toward cigarettes. Efforts to reduce smoking among Chilean youth may benefit from concurrently reducing parental smoking.