predicting tobacco use based on the theory of planned behavior in adolescent girls

Introduction: tobacco use poses a serious threat to global health. the tobacco epidemic is spreading in low- and middle-income countries, where the tobacco industries mainly target young people and women. objective: this study aims to determine the predictors of tobacco use based on the theory of planned behavior (tpb) in female high school students. materials and methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted on 340 female high school students aged 14-18 in rasht city, iran, who were selected using a multi-stage sampling method. the data collection tool was the tpb questionnaire for tobacco use in persian. the obtained data were analyzed using the mann-whitney u test, kolmogorov- smirnov test, spearman correlation test and logistic regression analysis. results: the tpb constructs of attitude (or=0.91, 95%ci: 0.85-0.97, p=0.007) and behavioral intention (or=0.75, 95%ci; 0.64-0.88, p=0.001) could predict cigarette smoking. also, constructs of perceived behavioral control (or=0.92, 95%ci; 0.87-0.97, p=0.007), subjective norms (or=0.83, 95%ci; 0.70-0.97, p=0.02), and behavioral intention (or=0.88, 95% ci; 0.78 -0.99, p=0.03) could predict hookah smoking in girls students. conclusion: considering the predictive power of the tpb constructs in tobacco use by adolescent girls, it is possible to plan to reduce its rate in this group by a focus on the tpb constructs.