Association of tobacco experimentation with anxiety and depression: findings from a representative sample of Tunisian adolescents
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Amel Amara
, Nihel Omri
, Manel Limam
Abstract
Objectives
Emerging evidence points to tobacco experimentation being associated with a vast array of mental disorders, particularly anxiety and depression. We aimed to assess the prevalence of tobacco experimentation, its predictive factors and its potential links with anxiety and depressive disorders among in school adolescents in a Tunisian delegation.
Methods
We carried out a cross sectional study among adolescents schooling in middle and high schools in the delegation of Nfidha, Sousse, Tunisia, during the period from January to March of the 2019–2020 school year using an anonymous questionnaire self-administered to a representative sample of 1,353 randomly selected pupils. Data were collected using the Arabic versions of the Beck Depression Inventory short form (13 items) and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED-C) and a socio-demographic questionnaire with reference to the literature.
Results
Tobacco was experimented by (17.5 %; CI 95 %: 14.8–18.8 %) of pupils. Almost three out of four pupils (73.2 %; CI 95 %: 70.8–75.6 %) reported experiencing depressive symptoms and (65 %; CI 95 %: 62.5–67.5 %) anxiety symptoms. Pupils who exhibited depressive disorder indicators were significantly more prone to experiment with tobacco (20.2 vs. 9.9 %, p<0.001; crude OR=2.301 CI 95 %: 1.74–3.58). Similarly, the prevalence of tobacco experimentation was found to be higher among pupils who reported having experienced anxiety disorders (21.0 vs. 14.5 %, p<0.001; crude OR=1.56 CI 95 %: 1.06–2.27). Being a male pupil (AOR=5.48 95 % CI: 3.62–8.31), being be enrolled in a high school (AOR=2.86, 95 % CI: 1.92–4.26), tobacco use by father and siblings (respectively AOR=1.76, 95 % CI: 1.19–2.60; AOR=2.47, 95 % CI: 1.52–4.02) and experiencing depressive disorders (AOR=2.69, 95 % CI: 1.60–4.53) were the determinants of tobacco experimentation in the multivariate analysis.
Conclusions
Tobacco experimentation in adolescence has been shown to be significantly associated with anxiety and depression. National smoking prevention strategies should be reinforced with a focus on mental health disorders.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the study staff and study participants.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: The authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Competing interests: The authors states no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Data availability: Not applicable.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Reviews
- Efficacy of behavioral interventions to increase engagement in sexual health services among LatinX youth in the United States: A meta-analysis for post-pandemic implications
- Electronic nicotine delivery system: a narrative review on growing threat to tobacco control and health of the young Indian population
- Original Articles
- Mindful awareness and resilience skills for adolescents (MARS-A): a mixed-methods study of a mindfulness-based intervention for a heterogeneous adolescent clinical population
- Adolescent health care and perceptions in a provincial hospital in Papua New Guinea
- Adolescents on an inpatient unit and their healthcare providers: what’s working and what’s not
- Adolescent and young adult long-acting reversible contraception post-insertion visit attendance before and after COVID-19
- Knowledge and beliefs of Greek parents towards HPV infection and vaccination – are they willing to vaccinate their sons?
- Prevalence and correlates of unintentional nonfatal injuries among school-going adolescents in Central America
- Prevention starts here: effectiveness of substance abuse prevention module among adolescent students in Bengaluru – a quasi experimental study
- Association of tobacco experimentation with anxiety and depression: findings from a representative sample of Tunisian adolescents
- Knowledge of smoking and influencing factors among school-going adolescents in Timor-Leste
- Tobacco use and oral health related quality of life among Indian adolescents