Tobacco smoking in young-adults from 21 European countries - Association with attitudes and risk awareness

Abstract

Information concerning tobacco smoking was obtained in a survey of 16 483 students aged 18-30 years from 21 European countries. Belief in the benefits to health of not smoking were also assessed. Risk awareness was measured in terms of knowledge of the links between smoking and disease. The overall age-adjusted prevalence of smoking was 33.1% in men and 29.0% in women, but wide variations were observed across country samples. Significant sex differences were found in only a minority of cases. The inclusion of respondents who stated that they had sometimes smoked in the past substantially reduced variations in prevalence across country samples. Beliefs in the health benefits of not smoking were consistently associated with smoking behaviour. Awareness of the link between smoking and lung cancer was uniformly high, but awareness of the role of smoking in heart disease varied considerably across country samples, and averaged only 64.4% in men and 62.9% in women. In the majority of countries, risk awareness was greater among smokers than non-smokers. The results suggest that in this selected sector of the population of young adults in Europe, sex differences in smoking are relatively minor, robust associations between attitudes and smoking behaviour can be identified, and there are major gaps in risk awareness.