Effect of students' self-concept levels and perceived academic achievements on their perceptions of smoking

Objective: This study was conducted as a descriptive-cross sectional study in order to examine the effect of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade elementary school students? self-concept levels and perceived academic achievements on their perceptions of smoking. Method: In the study, the data were obtained by using the Socio-Demographic data collection tool, Pier-Herris Self-Concept scale and Child Decision Balance Scale. Target population of the study consisted of the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students of three schools selected out of the elementary schools affiliated to the Provincial Directorate for National Education of İzmir via the method of simple random sampling to represent each one of three socio-economic groups. 374 students who were studying at two randomly-selected branches of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grades of each school, accepted to take part in the study voluntarily, received the approvals of their parents and had no difficulty in reading/learning were included in the sample of the study. Data were collected between December 2012 and January 2013. Percentages and t test were used in the evaluation of the data. Findings: While the mean score of the students with positive self-concept perceptions in the smoking benefit subdimension is 7.12 ± 2.18, that of the students with negative self-concept perceptions is 8.61 ± 3.76 (p=0.000). On the other hand, while the mean score of the students having positive self-concept perceptions in the smoking harm subdimension is 29.01 ± 2.47, that of the students having negative self-concept perceptions is 28.11 ± 3.49 (p=0.004). Whereas the mean score of the students regarding themselves to be successful is 7.81 ± 3.13 in the smoking benefit subdimension, the mean score of the students regarding themselves to be unsuccessful is 8.27 ± 3.39 (p=0.333). The mean score of the students considering themselves to be successful is 28.47 ± 3.19 in the smoking harm subdimension while that of the students considering themselves to be unsuccessful is 29.01 ± 2.05 (p=0.235). Conclusion: It was found out that the smoking benefit perceptions of the students with positive self-perceptions are low while their smoking harm perceptions are high. On the other hand, smoking benefit perceptions of the students with negative self-perceptions are high but their smoking harm perceptions are low. However, academic achievement perception did not affect benefit and harm perceptions. Key Words: Self-Concept, Smoking, Academic Achievement Perception, Smoking Benefit and Harm Perception