Smoking prevalence, social anxiety and depression in adolescents: A school-based cross-sectional study

The health and lifestyle habits of adolescents are extremely important in terms of public health. It is crucial to determine smoking rates, levels of social anxiety and depression in order to enable early intervention. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of smoking and levels of social anxiety and depression among adolescents, and to examine the risk factors influencing smoking. The study involved 3,636 adolescents. Data were collected using the Personal Information Form, the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents and the Basic Depression Scale. The study found that adolescents typically started smoking at an average age of 14.35 ± 1.62 years, with a smoking prevalence of 9.5%. Gender, grade level, family type, the presence of smokers among family members or friends, and levels of social anxiety and depression were identified as significant risk factors for smoking. Specifically, having smokers in the peer group increased the likelihood of adolescents smoking by 9.627 times, while having smokers in the family increased this likelihood by 1.412 times. Each unit increase in social anxiety score increased the likelihood of smoking by 1.6%, and each unit increase in depression score by 5.2%. In conclusion, identifying adolescents at risk of smoking at an early stage provides valuable opportunities for school nurses and educators to reduce levels of social anxiety and depression. To this end, it is recommended that educational sessions and psychosocial intervention programmes are developed to enhance adolescents' social skills. Keywords: Depression; Adolescents; Prevalence; Risk Factors; Smoking; Social Anxiety.