engleski

Five-factor personality traits as predictors of smoking in early adolescence – implications for health education

This study explored five-factor personality traits and their higher order factors as predictors of the age of cigarette smoking initiation and current smoking status among 457 primary school girls and 443 boys, aged 10 to 16 years. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses showed that five-factor personality traits predicted the age of smoking initiation. Neuroticism predicted earlier and Conscientiousness later age of smoking initiation in girls, while Neuroticism and Extraversion predicted earlier, and Conscientiousness later age of smoking initiation in boys. Personality traits also predicted current smoking status. Girls were more likely to smoke if lower on Conscientiousness, and boys if lower on Conscientiousness and higher on Extraversion and Neuroticism. Regarding higher order factors, alpha factor predicted the age of the first smoking experience and current smoking status in girls, while in boys, both factors predicted both criteria, and additionally their interaction predicted current smoking status. Implications of these results for health education and intervention programs are discussed.

five-factor personality traits, cigarette smoking, smoking initiation, early adolescence, health education

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