The effect of structural and functional social relations on smoking among adolescents – data from HBSC Greenland 2018

ABSTRACT

The prevalence of adolescent smoking in Greenland is relatively high and remains an important topic to study. The present study reports the prevalence of smoking among Greenlandic adolescents in 2018 and the association between smoking and social relations. The study was based on HBSC Greenland 2018, using a theoretical framework proposed by Due and colleagues, which divides social relations into structural and functional relations. The study showed a statistically significant gender difference in smoking, as 11.4% of the girls reported to smoke compared to 7.9% of the boys. The smoking prevalence increased significantly with age, and differences were also found for a place of residence, as the smoking prevalence was higher in towns and settlements compared to Nuuk. The adolescent smoking prevalence was higher when living in a home with one adult or in a foster family, school home or orphanage, versus living in home with at least two adults. No significant associations were found between adolescent smoking and functional relations. The results are beneficial to consider when applying new interventions to prevent adolescent smoking initiation in Greenland.

KEYWORDS:

• Smoking
• social relations
• adolescents
• HBSC Greenland

Acknowledgments

The authors declare no conflicts of interest nor have any financial interests or benefits from this research. All authors contributed significantly to the manuscript, but SKH and LABH contributed equally to all aspects of the production of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.