The association between personal income and smoking among adolescents: a study in six European cities

Aims This study investigates the link between personal income and smoking among adolescents, and aims to answer the following questions: (i) to what extent is personal income related to smoking, independent of family socio-economic status (SES) and (ii) does the association between personal income and smoking apply to different subpopulations? Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Six cities from European countries (Amersfoort, the Netherlands; Coimbra, Portugal; Hannover, Germany; Latina, Italy; Namur, Belgium; Tampere, Finland) in 2013. Participants A school-based sample of 10794 adolescents aged 14-17years. Measurements We modelled smoking experimentation, weekly smoking, daily smoking and (among daily smokers) smoking intensity as function of personal income, adjusting for age, sex, family SES, parental smoking and country. We tested interactions between personal income and covariates. Stratification analyses were performed for the variables for which interactions were significant. Findings Adolescents in the highest income quintile were more likely to be smoking experimenters [odds ratio (OR)=1.87; P<0.01], weekly smokers (OR=3.51; P<0.01) and daily smokers (OR=4.55; P<0.01) than those in the lowest quintile. They also consumed more cigarettes per month (beta=0.79; P