Table 3.
Reasons reported for smoking initiation among ever smokers, weighted.*
| All (n = 2378) % |
France (n = 467) % |
Ireland (n = 519) % |
Italy (n = 474) % |
Czech Republic (n = 429) % |
Sweden (n = 489) % |
χ2 p-value |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| My friends smoked | 62.3 | 67.7 | 65.4 | 58.6 | 61.3 | 58.3 | 0.0152 |
| Smoking made me look more cool | 25.5 | 14.2 | 35.4 | 19.4 | 28.1 | 27.6 | <0.0001 |
| My friends approved of my smoking | 6.9 | 5.5 | 16.3 | 0.9 | 10.3 | 0.6 | <0.0001 |
| It helped me manage my stress | 6.8 | 8.9 | 8.1 | 7.2 | 7.6 | 2.6 | 0.0021 |
| My family members smoked | 6.1 | 6.1 | 11.1 | 6.4 | 4.6 | 1.7 | <0.0001 |
| I was not worried about health effects | 5.9 | 0.4 | 21.1 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 3.0 | <0.0001 |
| I believed I could quit whenever I wanted to | 5.6 | 0.7 | 18.2 | 0.2 | 4.1 | 1.8 | <0.0001 |
| Tobacco advertising was attractive to me | 1.7 | 1.4 | 4.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.0 | <0.0001 |
| Weight concerns | 1.5 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | <0.0001 |
| I was less depressed when I smoked | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.4108 |
| My parents did not mind that I smoked | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 0.7187 |
| Other | 15.6 | 11.4 | 14.5 | 24.5 | 13.3 | 14.2 | <0.0001 |
*Participants were allowed to list more than one reason for smoking initiation.