Cigarette Smoking and Indicators of Psychosocial Distress in Southeast Asian and Central-Eastern European Adolescents

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the association of cigarette smoking and 2 indicators of psychosocial distress (hopelessness and loneliness) among adolescents from 2 distinctly different regions of the world: Central-Eastern Europe (Hungary, Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Poland) and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Taiwan, and the Philippines). Among Southeast Asian boys and girls, smokers had elevated hopelessness in comparison to nonsmokers but among Central-Eastern European students, this relationship was true only for girls and there was no relationship for boys. Across the country samples, there was only association of smoking with loneliness among Southeast Asian girls and Central-Eastern European girls. While Southeast Asian girls who smoked scored higher on loneliness than nonsmokers, the opposite was true among Central-Eastern European girls, with smokers scoring lower on loneliness.