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Smoking in Teenagers from the Social Protection System-What Do We Know about It?

ABSTRACT: Background and Objectives: The impact of smoking on the young population is an extremely important issue for the public health system. As the prevalence of smoking is considerably increasing amongst the pubescent and adolescent population, the prevention of smoking at this age should be considered of high priority. The primary aim of this observational study was to assess tobacco use in teenagers included in the social protection system. Materials and Methods: 275 foster care teenagers (155 from the Professional Maternal Assistance System (AMP) and 120 from the residential system) from two different counties were enrolled. After a brief interactive session focused on the main consequences of smoking, a self-administered questionnaire was anonymously completed. Results: The mean age of the study group was 14 years, with a significant difference between the residential system and AMP (p = 0.001). Smoking status was significantly higher in participants from family-type houses (36.7%) than in those from the AMP (11.7%) (p < 0.001). The presence of smokers in the family (78.3%) and passive smoking (64.7%) were significantly higher in children from the residential system than in those from the AMP (32.9% and 31.8%, respectively) (p < 0.001). The number of cigarettes consumed daily was associated with the age of the participants (p = 0.01, rho 0.42). In total, 82.3% were cigarette users and 19.4% were e-cigarette users. Smokers bought the majority of their cigarettes from the store (63.2%) or asked a friend (19.3%) or an adult to buy them on their behalf (12.3%). Conclusions: The null hypothesis, according to which children who are abandoned but raised and cared for by professional nursing assistants are predisposed to earlier tobacco activity compared to children raised in a normal familiar environment, is supported. Future education and prevention campaigns conveying the benefits of a healthy long-term lifestyle to this population category are needed.

SUBMITTER: Budin CE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8150939 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The prevalence of electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has rapidly increased among young people, while conventional cigarette use has decreased in this age group. However, some evidence suggests that e-cigarette use is likely to induce conventional cigarette smoking. The present study explored the social influence of the prevalence of e-cigarette use in the peer network and in the general population as a potential mechanism by which e-cigarette use affects adolescents' overall smoking behaviours. For this purpose, we developed an agent-based model in which young agents repeatedly choose to smoke conventional cigarettes and/or e-cigarettes, or to remain non-smokers. The choice is based on the agent's evaluation of the utility derived from smoking and attitude towards smoking ('openness'), which is influenced by smoking prevalence in the agent's peer network and in the broader society. We also assumed a 'crossover' effect between the different types of smoking. The model was calibrated with United States National Youth Tobacco Survey data to reflect real-world numbers. We further simulated the prevalence of different types of smoking under counterfactual scenarios with different levels of openness and crossover effects. The models developed successfully reproduced actual prevalence trends in different types of smoking from 2011 to 2014. Openness to smoking is associated with a dramatic increase in e-cigarette smoking and especially in dual smoking, which cancels out the decline in sole conventional smoking. Larger crossover effects are associated with a higher prevalence of conventional smoking. The simulation results indicate that the social influence of the prevalence of e-cigarette use may influence young people to initiate or continue conventional cigarette smoking. Assessing the impact of e-cigarettes in the general population as a 'healthier' alternative to conventional smoking may require carefully monitoring trends in young people's smoking behaviours.

Project description:BackgroundInfluenza is a viral infection that primarily spreads via fluid droplets from an infected person's coughs and sneezes to others nearby. Social contact networks and the way people interact within them are thus important to its spread. We developed a method to characterize the social contact network for the potential transmission of influenza and then applied the method to school aged children and teenagers.MethodsSurveys were administered to students in an elementary, middle and high-school in the United States. The social contact network of a person was conceptualized as a set of groups to which they belong (e.g., households, classes, clubs) each composed of a sub-network of primary links representing the individuals within each group that they contact. The size of the group, number of primary links, time spent in the group, and level of contact along each primary link (near, talking, touching, or kissing) were characterized. Public activities done by groups venturing into the community where random contacts occur (e.g., friends viewing a movie) also were characterized.ResultsStudents, groups and public activities were highly heterogeneous. Groups with high potential for the transmission of influenza were households, school classes, friends, and sports; households decreased and friends and sports increased in importance with grade level. Individual public activity events (such as dances) were also important but lost their importance when averaged over time. Random contacts, primarily in school passing periods, were numerous but had much lower transmission potential compared to those with primary links within groups. Students are highly assortative, interacting mainly within age class. A small number of individual students are identified as likely "super-spreaders".ConclusionHigh-school students may form the local transmission backbone of the next pandemic. Closing schools and keeping students at home during a pandemic would remove the transmission potential within these ages and could be effective at thwarting its spread within a community. Social contact networks characterized as groups and public activities with the time, level of contact and primary links within each, yields a comprehensive view, which if extended to all ages, would allow design of effective community containment for pandemic influenza.

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Smoking in Teenagers from the Social Protection System-What Do We Know about It?

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