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Cross‐Cultural Analysis of Cognitive Attributions of Smoking in Thai and South Korean Adolescents
Author(s) -
Page Randy M.,
Park Sunhee,
Suwanteerangkul Jiraporn,
Park Hyunju,
Kemeny Maria,
Philips Lynn
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of school health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.851
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1746-1561
pISSN - 0022-4391
DOI - 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00667.x
Subject(s) - attribution , cognition , coping (psychology) , psychology , feeling , logistic regression , clinical psychology , social psychology , medicine , psychiatry
BACKGROUND: Understanding the cognitive attributions of smoking has the potential to advance youth smoking prevention efforts; however, research on this subject is limited in Asian countries. We attempted to determine the degree to which cognitive attributions of smoking differ among adolescents in 2 Asian countries, Thailand and South Korea. METHODS: We surveyed 10th‐ to 12th‐grade students in Chiang Mai, Thailand (N = 2516) and Seoul, South Korea (N = 1166). Logistic regression determined association of attributions and current smoking and differences in attributions between Thai and South Korean students. RESULTS: Items with the highest agreement among South Koreans were “helps me to deal with stress” and “helps relax” and among Thai were “feel like I am making my own decisions” and “keeps from being bored.” Significant predictors of current smoking were different between samples. Only 1 cognitive attribution predicted current smoking in both samples (“helps me to deal with stress”). CONCLUSION: The pattern of relevant cognitive attributions of smoking for the 2 samples was distinct, suggesting that cross‐cultural differences merit consideration when designing prevention and cessation programs. Health education should strive to dispel the use of smoking as a coping strategy for dealing with stressful situations and distressful feelings and teach adolescents alternative healthy strategies for dealing with stress.