Determinants of resilience to cigarette smoking among young Australians at risk: an exploratory study

BACKGROUND: Numerous researchers studied risk factors associated with smoking uptake, however, few examined protective factors associated with smoking resilience. This study therefore aims to explore determinants of smoking resilience among young people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who are at risk of smoking. METHODS: Overall, 92 out of 92 vocational education students accepted invitation to participate in this exploratory study. The Adelaide Technical and Further Education (TAFE) Arts campus was chosen for the study given the focus on studying resilience in young people of lower socioeconomic status i.e. resilient despite the odds. A self-report questionnaire comprising a measure of resilience: sense of coherence, sense of humour, coping styles, depression, anxiety and stress, and family, peers and community support, was distributed among participants aged 15 to 29. Additional factors researched are parental approval and disapproval, course type, and reasons for not smoking. Using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 13.0), analyses were undertaken using frequencies, means, standard deviations, independent sample t-tests, correlations, analysis of variance, logistic regression, and chi-square test. RESULTS: Twenty five (27%) out of 92 students smoked. Young people with peer support tended to smoke (p < .05). A relationship between daily smoking and depression, anxiety and stress was also found (p < .05). When both mothers and fathers disapproved of their children smoking, it had a greater influence on females not smoking, compared with males. The majority of students chose 'health and fitness' as a reason for not smoking. Students in the Dance course tended to not smoke. CONCLUSIONS: The current study showed that most students chose 'health and fitness' as the reason for not smoking. Single anti-smoking messages cannot be generalised to all young people, but should recognise that people within different contexts, groups and subcultures will have different reasons for choosing whether or not to smoke. Future studies should use larger samples with a mixed methods design (quantitative and qualitative).