Attitudes towards the use of nicotine products among vocational school students in Finland

Abstract

Background: Young people’s use of nicotine products is a global challenge, and it is changing over time. Young people in Finnish vocational education smoke cigarettes more often and rate their health more poorly than other upper-secondary students. The data for this study was collected in November 2020. The study aimed to investigate behaviours, attitudes and opinions about nicotine products among 15–28-year-old Finnish vocational students. Methods: An electronic questionnaire survey was distributed to and collected from 449 students. The survey data was analysed with SPSS which categorised the participants into nicotine product non-users and users. A factor analysis was done, and the result was a six-factor model with six themes. Results: Non-users and users had similar attitudes and impressions towards nicotine product. However, non-users disagreed more with the theme “social norms and feelings of pleasure from nicotine products” than the users (p < 0.001). The non-users disagreed more often with the theme of the nicotine appearance of nicotine products than the users did (p < 0.001). As regards the theme “use of nicotine products impacts appearance” the users strongly disagreed more often with this theme than non-users (p < 0.001). Most participants in both groups considered non-smoking fashionable. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that understanding young people’s behaviour and attitudes towards nicotine products is important for protecting young people’s health. The connections between young people’s attitudes, their use or non-use of nicotine products, and everyday life trends are complex and time-bound. More research using multiple methods is needed to clarify the phenomenon.