Age at smoking initiation and self-rated health among second grade high school boys and girls in Scania, Sweden, a cross-sectional study

Table 2 Characteristics (%) of high school girls by smoking status and age a smoking initiation

	Girls n = 3434
		Early initiators^a		Later initiators^b
	Never smokers	Former smokers	Current smokers	Former smokers	Current smokers
	n = 1613 (47 %)	n = 89 (3 %)	n = 594 (17 %)	n = 144 (4 %)	n = 994 (29 %)
Sociodemographic factors (%)
Parental country of birth
Both parents born in Sweden	70	70	67	70	71
One parent born in Sweden	10	13	16	11	12
Both parents born abroad	21	18	17	18	17
Parental employment
Both parents working	81	83	74	80	81
One parent working	15	13	21	18	15
No parent working	4	4	5	2	4
Health related lifestyle factors (%)
Intense alcohol consumption^c	11	43	65	43	57
Narcotic drugs last 12 months^d	1	14	32	15	20
Psychosocial factors (%)
Not easy to talk to parents if problems	30	45	44	42	39
Not easy to talk to friends if problems	20	30	23	22	19
Health related symptoms (%)
Weight^e
Underweight	14	20	11	14	10
Normal weight	75	63	73	73	79
Overweight	9	13	13	11	8
Obesity	2	5	3	3	3
Functional disability^f	19	25	35	30	26
Poor self-rated heath	15	25	33	21	23

Characteristics (%) of second grade high school girls by smoking status and age at smoking initiation, the Scania public health survey among children and adolescents, 2012
^aEarly initiators-initiating smoking <14 years of age
^bLater initiators-initiating smoking ≥14 years of age
^cIntense alcohol consumption-consumtion of alcohol equivalent to 25 cl hard liquor at least once a month during the last 12 months
^dNarcotic drugs-used at least one narcotic drugs during last 12 months
^eWeight; underweight-Body Mass Index (BMI) < 18.5, normal weight-BMI 18.5–24.9, overweight-BMI 25–29.99, obesity-BMI ≥30
^fFunctional disability-reporting at least one disability-hearing disability, visual disability that cannot be corrected with glasses or lenses, physical disabilities, reading-writing-dyslexia-disabilities, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders or Attention Deficit Disorder or other disability

ISSN: 1471-2458