Associations between optimism, tobacco smoking and substance abuse among Iranian high school students

Soudabeh Marin; Esmaeil Heshmatian; Haidar Nadrian; Ali Fakhari; Asghar Mohammadpoorasl

doi:10.15171/hpp.2019.38

Associations between optimism, tobacco smoking and substance abuse among Iranian high school students

Health Promot Perspect. 2019 Oct 24;9(4):279-284. doi: 10.15171/hpp.2019.38. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Soudabeh Marin¹, Esmaeil Heshmatian², Haidar Nadrian³, Ali Fakhari⁴, Asghar Mohammadpoorasl⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
² Department of Health Education, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
³ Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
⁴ Research Center of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
⁵ Tabriz Health Services Management Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Optimism is known to be associated with many health behaviors. However, the associations between optimism, tobacco smoking and substance abuse in adolescents are not well documented. This study aimed to address this research gap in a large school-based population. Methods: Participants (N = 1104) were selected based on multi-stage cluster sampling method. Cigarette and hookah smoking behaviors, illicit drug use, optimism, and relevant covariates were measured using a validated questionnaire. Data were analyzed using ordinal logistic regression. Results: After adjustment, higher optimism score was a protective factor against being situated in advanced stages of cigarette smoking (odds ratio [OR] = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.84-0.91), hookah smoking (OR = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.88-0.94), and illicit drugs usage (OR = 0.90, 95% CI: 0.85-0.95). Moreover, the results showed that negative-stability and negative-globality domains of optimism were significantly higher among advanced-stage smokers and illicit drug users. Conclusion: Optimism was found to be a protective factor against tobacco smoking and substance abuse; whereas pessimism (negative-stability and negative-globality) was found to be a determinant factor. Further research is needed to investigate the effects of optimism on the transition in cigarette and hookah smoking stages.

Keywords: Adolescent; Optimism; Substance abuse; Tobacco smoking.