A longitudinal study of smoking in year 7 and 8 students speaking English or a language other than English at home in Sydney, Australia

Objective-To compare the rates and predictors of smoking uptake between ado lescents speaking English and those speaking a language other than English (LOTE) at home. Design-A cross-sectional survey of year 7 and 8 students (aged 12 and 13 ye ars) was conducted in 1994 and repeated 12 months later. A cohort of studen ts was identified with respondents at baseline matched at follow up. chi(2) and logistic regression were used for analysis. Setting-38 schools in southern, east, and northern Sydney, Australia. Subjects-Year 7 and 8 students in the schools were included and examined on two occasions, with complete data for 5947 (80%) students at baseline and 6177 (98%) students at a 12-month follow up. Records were able to be matche d perfectly for 3513 respondents (59%). Main outcome measures-Smoking rates and predictors of smoking uptake among students speaking English or a LOTE at home. Results-At baseline, 6.1% of students surveyed were smokers. Twelve months later, 15.8% of student surveyed were smokers. There were significantly low er smoking rates among students speaking a LOTE at home compared with those speaking English at home at baseline and at 12 months. Using matched data, for students speaking English at home, five variables were significant pre dictors of smoking uptake: thinking it acceptable to smoke, perceived benef its of smoking, and having a brother, sister, or close friend who smokes. F or students speaking a LOTE, the only predictor was the smoking status of c lose friends. Conclusions-Despite the higher smoking prevalence among men with a non-Engl ish-speaking background, and the reported strong association between father s' smoking status and smoking onset of their children, adolescents speaking a LOTE at home were significantly less likely to be smokers than their Eng lish-speaking counterparts. Thus, there would seem to be a delay of smoking onset among students speaking a LOTE at home. The smoking rates among resp ondents speaking a LOTE at home in this study are lower than those obtained from the studies conducted in Europe and the United States. Effective smok ing prevention interventions need to be implemented at an early stage of ad olescence.