Abstract:
This study was descriptive correlational research which aimed at investigating the relationships between a sense of coherence, spiritual well-being and smoking behavior in adolescents. In addition, The Salutogenic Model of Health of Antonovsky was used the conceptual framework here. The sample consisted of 433 Thai adolescents who were studying in Mathayomsuksa 4, 5, and 6 and in the first-, second-, and third-year vocational certificate under the Basic Education Office and Vocational Educational Office in Muang District, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, in the academic year 2004. The sample was selected using multi-stage random sampling. The instruments of this study consisted of four questionnaires as follows: 1. General characteristics data questionnaire: 2. smoking behavior questionnaire: 3.sense of coherence questionnaire; and 4. spiritual well-being questionnaire. The Chi-square and logistic regression were used for data analysis. The results of this study showed that 66.3 % of the smoker group started smoking between the age of 15 and 19 years. The Chi-square analysis revealed that a sense of coherence and spiritual well-being were significantly related to smoking behavior (P<.05). In addition, the logistic regression analysis indicated that low sense of coherence group was 2.08 times more likely to smoke when compared to the high sense of coherence group (OR = 2.08, 95%CI = 1.27-3.39), and the low spiritual well- being group was 1.94 times more likely to smoke when compared to the high spiritual well-being group (OR = 1.94, 95%CI= 1.21-3.11). Based on these findings, it is recommended that psychiatric nurses and related personnel working with adolescents should have more awareness to help adolescents avoid or reduce smoking behavior by promoting a sense of coherence and spiritual well-being among them.
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