A Comparison of Correlates of Cigarette Smoking Behavior Between Jiangxi Province, China and Japanese High School Students

抄録

We conducted surveys on cigarette smoking among junior and senior high school students in Jiangxi province, China and throughout Japan using the same anonymous, self-administered questionnaire in order to compare correlates of adolescent smoking between the two areas. Cross-sectional surveys were used to measure smoking behavior and correlates in two samples of 57, 566 Japanese students and 11, 836 Jiangxi students. The correlate on smoking with the highest relative risk was friend's smoking in both sexes in each area. The magnitude of the relative risk was bigger for Japanese students. The relative risk of the variable that a student doesn't think cigarette smoking harms his/her health was higher among Jiangxi students than among Japanese students. Mother's smoking and sister's smoking were significantly related to smoking experiment of Japanese students. In Japan, important measures are to support students getting coping techniques against peer pressure and to elevate concern toward adolescent smoking among family members and society. In Jiangxi, the anti-smoking education to teach students to correctly recognize the harm of smoking to their health is more important. J Epidemiol, 1999 ; 9 : 254-260.