IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i3p1485-d736719.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Adolescents’ Perceptions of Harmfulness of Tobacco and Tobacco-like Products in Finland

Author

Listed:
  • Salma El-Amin

    (Unit of Health Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, 33014 Tampere, Finland)

  • Jaana M. Kinnunen

    (Unit of Health Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, 33014 Tampere, Finland)

  • Arja Rimpelä

    (Unit of Health Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, 33014 Tampere, Finland
    Department of Adolescent Psychiatry, Tampere University Hospital, P.O. Box 2000, 33521 Tampere, Finland)

Abstract

During the recent years, new tobacco and tobacco-like products, e.g., e-cigarettes, have emerged on the market. Adolescents often underestimate health risks in general, including those concerning tobacco. Little is known of adolescents’ perceptions of health risks of the newer products. Our paper compares adolescents’ perceptions of harmfulness of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, snus, water pipes, and nicotine in Finland, a country with a long history of strict tobacco control policy. Online surveys to nationally representative samples of 12–18-year-olds were conducted in 2017 and 2019, with 7578 answering the surveys. Only 3% of boys and 2% of girls did not agree that cigarettes are harmful to health. The percentages were slightly higher for snus (6% and 3%, respectively) and nicotine (12%, 8%) but much higher for e-cigarettes (30%, 22%) and water pipes (36%, 38%). Those who used the product, whose parents were smokers or had lower education, and whose school performance was lower, less often agreed with the harmful health effects of the products. Our results showed that adolescents understood the harmfulness of older tobacco products better than the harmfulness of the newer ones. Our results also showed the need to strengthen health education and fix adolescents’ misperceptions of the health effects of the newer products.

Suggested Citation

  • Salma El-Amin & Jaana M. Kinnunen & Arja Rimpelä, 2022. "Adolescents’ Perceptions of Harmfulness of Tobacco and Tobacco-like Products in Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-9, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1485-:d:736719
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1485/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1485/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hall, Marissa G. & Mendel, Jennifer R. & Noar, Seth M. & Brewer, Noel T., 2018. "Why smokers avoid cigarette pack risk messages: Two randomized clinical trials in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 165-172.
    2. Graham F. Moore & Lianna Angel & Linsay Gray & Lauren Copeland & Jordan Van Godwin & Jeremy Segrott & Britt Hallingberg, 2020. "Associations of Socioeconomic Status, Parental Smoking and Parental E-Cigarette Use with 10–11-Year-Old Children’s Perceptions of Tobacco Cigarettes and E-Cigarettes: Cross Sectional Analysis of the C," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Jaana M. Kinnunen & Hanna Ollila & Jaana Minkkinen & Pirjo L. Lindfors & Arja H. Rimpelä, 2018. "A Longitudinal Study of Predictors for Adolescent Electronic Cigarette Experimentation and Comparison with Conventional Smoking," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-17, February.
    4. Salma E. T. El-Amin & Jaana M. Kinnunen & Hanna Ollila & Mika Helminen & Joana Alves & Pirjo Lindfors & Arja H. Rimpelä, 2015. "Transmission of Smoking across Three Generations in Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Vicki Myers & Laura J. Rosen & David M. Zucker & Shoshana Shiloh, 2020. "Parental Perceptions of Children’s Exposure to Tobacco Smoke and Parental Smoking Behaviour," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-10, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rosibel Rodríguez-Bolaños & Edna Arillo-Santillán & Inti Barrientos-Gutiérrez & Luis Zavala-Arciniega & Charity A. Ntansah & James F. Thrasher, 2019. "Sex Differences in Becoming a Current Electronic Cigarette User, Current Smoker and Current Dual User of Both Products: A Longitudinal Study among Mexican Adolescents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Bertrand Dautzenberg & Stéphane Legleye & Michel Underner & Philippe Arvers & Bhavish Pothegadoo & Abdelhalim Bensaidi, 2023. "Systematic Review and Critical Analysis of Longitudinal Studies Assessing Effect of E-Cigarettes on Cigarette Initiation among Adolescent Never-Smokers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(20), pages 1-20, October.
    3. Walton Sumner & Konstantinos Farsalinos, 2018. "Lessons and Guidance from the Special Issue on Electronic Cigarette Use and Public Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-9, June.
    4. Laura J. Rosen & David M. Zucker & Shannon Gravely & Michal Bitan & Ana M. Rule & Vicki Myers, 2023. "Tobacco Smoke Exposure According to Location of Home Smoking in Israel: Findings from the Project Zero Exposure Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-13, February.
    5. MacFarlane, Douglas & Hurlstone, Mark J. & Ecker, Ullrich K.H., 2020. "Protecting consumers from fraudulent health claims: A taxonomy of psychological drivers, interventions, barriers, and treatments," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    6. Vicki Myers & Shoshana Shiloh & David M. Zucker & Laura J. Rosen, 2020. "Changing Exposure Perceptions: A Randomized Controlled Trial of an Intervention with Smoking Parents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-10, May.
    7. Morgan, Jennifer C. & Golden, Shelley D. & Noar, Seth M. & Ribisl, Kurt M. & Southwell, Brian G. & Jeong, Michelle & Hall, Marissa G. & Brewer, Noel T., 2018. "Conversations about pictorial cigarette pack warnings: Theoretical mechanisms of influence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 45-51.
    8. Phulkerd, Sirinya & Thongcharoenchupong, Natjera & Chamratrithirong, Aphichat & Pattaravanich, Umaporn & Sacks, Gary & Prasertsom, Piyada, 2022. "Influence of sociodemographic and lifestyle factors on taxed sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in Thailand," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    9. Mi Young Kwon & Myoung Sun Cho, 2022. "Association of Residence Type on Smoking in South Korean Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from a National Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-12, October.
    10. Lipsey, Nikolette P. & Shepperd, James A., 2019. "The role of powerful audiences in health information avoidance," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 430-439.
    11. Joanna Nieczuja-Dwojacka & Beata Borowska & Alicja Budnik & Justyna Marchewka-Długońska & Izabela Tabak & Katarzyna Popielarz, 2023. "The Influence of Socioeconomic Factors on the Body Characteristics, Proportion, and Health Behavior of Children Aged 6–12 Years," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-11, February.
    12. Matthew J. Fagan & Katie M. Di Sebastiano & Wei Qian & Scott T. Leatherdale & Guy Faulkner, 2021. "The Energy to Smoke: Examining the Longitudinal Association between Beverage Consumption and Smoking and Vaping Behaviours among Youth in the COMPASS Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-16, April.
    13. Laura Campo & Francesca Vecera & Silvia Fustinoni, 2021. "Validation of a Questionnaire to Assess Smoking Habits, Attitudes, Knowledge, and Needs among University Students: A Pilot Study among Obstetrics Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-13, November.
    14. Christopher Cambron & Kaitlyn J. Thackeray, 2022. "Socioeconomic Differences in Lifetime and Past 30-Day E-Cigarette, Cigarette, and Dual Use: A State-Level Analysis of Utah Youth," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-10, June.
    15. Eerika Finell & Asko Tolvanen & Juha Pekkanen & Jaana Minkkinen & Timo Ståhl & Arja Rimpelä, 2018. "Psychosocial Problems, Indoor Air-Related Symptoms, and Perceived Indoor Air Quality among Students in Schools without Indoor Air Problems: A Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-13, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1485-:d:736719. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.