Objective: To investigate the prevalence of smoking cessation in schoolboys and the possibility of success, and examine the predictors of quitting attempt and success.
Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, self-administered questionnaires were answered by 4658 schoolboys to collect the information including their demographic characteristics, school conditions, smoking and health related knowledge and attitudes, and smoking related behaviors.
Results: Of the respondents, 7.6% were identified as regular smokers, and 68.6% of the regular smokers declared having tried to quit smoking in past twelve months but only 17.2% of them had succeeded in quitting. The two most popular motivations of quitting were "worrying about cigarettes harm to health" and "others persuading them to quit". Four influencing factors had significant association with the attempt to quit smoking, including ever having been persuaded to quit, health consideration, smoking mostly in bad mood, parents opposition of smoking. Concerning the possibility of success, ever having ever been exposed to anti-smoking propaganda predicted successful cessation while the boys who always smoked outside of schools tended to fail quitting.
Conclusion: Most of the smoking adolescents have ever tried to quit although the possibility of success is quite low. It' s necessary and important to combine the power of schools, families and communities in helping adolescents quit smoking with suitable methods considering their physical and psychological characteristics.