Dutch youth's smoking behaviour during a partial covid-19 lockdown

• Main Authors: Tessa R.D. van Deelen (Author), Bas van den Putte (Author), Anton E. Kunst (Author), Mirte A. G. Kuipers (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: SAGE Publishing, 2021-09-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 10.4081/jphr.2021.2106; 2279-9028; 2279-9036
• Keywords: Covid-19; lockdown; smoking; tobacco; youth; adolescents; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: Journal of Public Health Research (2021)

Previous research found that adult smokers increased their smoking in response to the Covid-19 lockdown in spring 2020. This study explored changes in youth's smoking during, compared to before, the partial lockdown in the Netherlands in a cross-sectional sample of 287 adolescents. Smoking prevalence increased from 4.5% to 5.2%. Cigarette consumption remained the same on school days and increased with +1.9 cigarettes per weekend day. The largest increase in cigarette consumption on weekend days was observed for adolescents who 1) did not consider smoking a risk factor for contracting Covid-19 (+4.5), 2) had smoking siblings (+4.1), and 3) had smoking friends (+2.4). Youth without smoking friends (-0.8) and who considered smoking a risk factor for Covid-19 (-0.2) decreased their cigarette consumption.