Objectives: To analyse Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) data to determine the role of family background on cigarette smoking among adolescents in Slovakia.
Methods: The GYTS is a school-based survey of students aged 13-15 years developed by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The GYTS was conducted in Slovakia in 2007.
Results: Students from families where one or more parents were smokers were significantly more likely to report lifetime smoking, current cigarette smoking and signs of nicotine dependence (only girls). Socioeconomic status of parents as measured by parent educational level and employment status was not statistically associated with students' smoking status. Girls from families with lower socioeconomic status showed more frequently positive attitudes regarding smoking of their peers.
Conclusions: Considering family background, parental smoking plays the most important role in smoking of their children regardless of employment status and educational level. The findings suggest that the tobacco control program effort in Slovakia needs to focus on implementation and enforcement for those policies already in place as well as expansion into additional measures.