Smoking and normative influence among Egyptian youth: A review of the literature

Abstract

Youth aged 15-24 years form 21% of Egypt's population. Tobacco smoking among the young is a health priority in Egypt. This paper reviews the literature on smoking among Egyptian youth, focusing on factors related to social normative influences. The PubMed and PsycInfo databases were searched for articles related to youth, Egypt and smoking; and grey literature from the World Health Organization, Population Council and the Egypt Demographic and Health Survey were also accessed. The PubMed and PsycInfo searches returned 52 and 3 publications respectively, of which 14 were retained. Smoking is more common among male youth and older youth. Peer smoking is consistently associated with youth smoking, but family smoking is not consistently associated. Employment and educational factors appear to be important. The limitations of the review and recommendations for future research are discussed.