Early onset of tobacco use behaviour and maintenance of tobacco abstinence: The impact of tobacco user in family.

INTRODUCTION

Tobacco is a highly addictive substance which makes quitting tobacco more difficult. Various factors are crucial in initiating, supporting and maintaining tobacco abstinence. Family contributes an essential role in quitting and managing addictive behaviours. However, there is sparse of research work on the impact of presence of tobacco user in family and age of onset of tobacco use behaviour. The objectives were to assess the effect of presence of tobacco user in family on age of onset of tobacco use and its role in tobacco quitting.

METHODS AND MATERIAL: The study was quantitative research with cross-sectional design, conducted among 400 recent quitters. The mean age of study participants was 17.17 ± 1.24 years. Sociodemographic and selected variables of study participants were assessed via a self-structured questionnaire, and tobacco abstinence was measured through tobacco craving questionnaire SF and the Smoking Abstinence Questionnaire.

RESULTS

The mean age of tobacco initiation of participants with tobacco user in family vs no tobacco user in family was 14.04 vs 17.51 years. Tobacco craving mean scores were high among participants having tobacco user in family. The mean scores for maintenance of tobacco abstinence in participants with tobacco user in family were high for adverse outcomes, withdrawals, and weight gain. However, the mean scores were less for social improvement, social support, common reasons to quit, and optimistic outcomes. The difference in both groups were statistically significant P ≤ 0.001.

CONCLUSIONS

The presence of tobacco user increases tobacco craving and decreases maintenance of abstinence among recent quitters. Early onset of tobacco use behaviour associated with presence of tobacco user in family. Focus must be put on treating all the tobacco users in a family simultaneously.