This study aimed to estimate associations between adolescents' religiosity and their motivation to start and stop smoking. A school survey was carried out in Midwestern Brazil. Participants were never-smokers (n = 2073) and smokers (n = 116) aged 13-19 who answered a questionnaire. Religiosity was measured with the Duke Religion Index, and motivation with questions based on the Prime Theory of Motivation. Organizational, non-organizational, and intrinsic religiosity were associated with motivation to start smoking among never-smokers. Intrinsic religiosity was associated with smokers' motivation to quit. Findings indicate the protective role of religiosity in the motivational system that prompts smoking initiation and cessation during adolescence.
Keywords: Adolescent behaviors; Motivation; Psychology; Religion; Smoking cessation; Smoking prevention.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.