Areca quid chewing by Taiwanese adolescents: application of the Attitudes Social influence Self-Efficacy (ASE) model

FRANÇAIS :
Etude transverasle auprès de 400 étudiants en 2001 : le modèle ASE a permis d'expliquer 46,8% de la variance du comportement de consomation de la noix d'arec.
ENGLISH :
Aims:To investigate the factors associated with areca quid-chewing behaviour using the Attitudes-Social influence-Self efficacy (ASE) model as a theoretical framework. Design: Cross-sectional survey Setting and participants: A total of 400 students from a junior high school participated in the study in 2001 in Chia-Yi city (Taiwan). Measurements: Expectancy scales (for the attitude component of the ASE), a self efficacy scale (for the self-efficacy component of the ASE) and a social norm scale (for the social influence component of the ASE) were utilized. These measures displayed good reliability and validity Findings: Forty-seven students (11.75%) reported that they had tried chewing areca quid previously, eight of them practicing chewing it every day. Positive and negative expectancy (r=0.43, r=-0.20), self efficacy (r=-0.65), and subject social norm (r=0.53) were significantly correlated with participants' intentions to chew areca quid. In a regression model, self-efficacy (b =- 0.46, P<0.001), social norm (b=0.22, P<0.001), positive expectancy (b=0.18, P < 0.001) and negative expectancy (b =- 0.08. P = 0.040) all made independent contributions to predicting intentions to chew and explained 46.8% of the variance in areca quid-chewing behaviour. Conclusions: Areca quid chewing appeared to be linked to positive expectancy and social norms pertaining to areca quid chewing associated with adolescents. However, high negative expectancy and high self-efficacy encouraged contrary behaviour. The application of the ASE model as the scenario could improve our understanding of the intention of the areca quid chewing among these adolescents. (Author' s abstract)