Abstract
The present study was to investigate the stages of smoking acquisition and behavioral factors in junior high school students, and the relationship between self-efficacy, social skills and smoking motivations. The survey about stages of smoking acquisition and behavioral factors were conducted with 350 (197 boys and 153 girls) first, second, third grade of junior high school students. The results showed that: 1) It is reasonable to suppose that there are four stages of smoking acquisition; that is, pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, and action stage. 2) Self-efficacy and social skills decreased from the pre-contemplation to the action stage. 3) Smoking stages had influence on smoking motivation. These results suggest that appropriate intervention and smoking programs for each stage would be necessary to prevent smoking behavior. The health promotion activities like health education and primary prevention are important issues for the future research in junior high school students.
