Abstract
Objectives
Knowledge of smoking is a protective factor for adolescent smoking. This study is the first to examine sociodemographic and lifestyle factors associated with adolescents’ knowledge of smoking in Timor-Leste. It is also a pioneering investigation into the ways in which exposure to anti-tobacco messages and health warnings on cigarette packages, and involvement in smoking-related education at schools and home mediate the relationship between school grade levels and smoking knowledge.
Methods
Data were obtained from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey Timor-Leste. Ordered logistic regressions were used to examine the associations between knowledge of smoking and sociodemographic, and lifestyle factors. Structural equation modelling was utilized to explore the mediating effects.
Results
Adolescents were less likely to have high knowledge of smoking if they were lower-secondary students, were males, had unemployed parents and had no closest friends who smoked. The relationship between grade levels and smoking knowledge was partly mediated by awareness of anti-tobacco messages on mass media, school education about the dangers of smoking and family discussion about smoking.
Conclusions
Sociodemographic and lifestyle factors play an important role in determining knowledge of smoking among adolescents. To some extent, awareness-, education- and family-related variables explain how grade levels affect smoking knowledge.
Funding source: Universiti Utara Malaysia
Award Identifier / Grant number: SO Code: 21359
Acknowledgments
This paper uses data from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). GYTS is supported by the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Research support from the Universiti Utara Malaysia Research Generation University Grant (SO Code: 21359) is acknowledged.
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Research ethics: Ethical approval was sought from the WHO’s Ethical Committee and Ministries of Education and Health in Timor-Leste.
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Informed consent: Written consent was obtained from respondents before the interviews.
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Author contributions: Conceptualization: Yong Kang Cheah. Methodology: Yong Kang Cheah. Validation: Yong Kang Cheah. Formal analysis: Yong Kang Cheah. Investigation: Yong Kang Cheah. Writing – original draft: Yong Kang Cheah. Writing – review & editing: Yong Kang Cheah.
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Competing interests: The author has no competing interests to declare.
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Research funding: This research was supported by the Universiti Utara Malaysia through Research Generation University Grant (SO Code: 21359).
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Data availability: The data that support the findings of this study are openly available at https://extranet.who.int/ncdsmicrodata/index.php/catalog/927/study-description.
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