Correspondence and Reprint requests : Dr. Adamson S. Muula, Department of Community Health, University of Malawi, College of Medicine, Private Bag 360, Chichiri, Blantyre 3, Malawi. [DOI–10.1007/s12098–009–0073–6] [Received September 17, 2007; Accepted August 8, 2008] Original Article Prevalence, Correlates of and Perceptions Toward Cigarette Smoking Among Adolescents in South Korea Emmanuel Rudatsikira, Adamson S. Muula 1 and Seter Siziya 2 Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology and Global Health, Loma Linda University, School of Public Health, Loma Linda, California; 1 Department of Community Health, University of Malawi, College of Medicine, Blantyre, Malawi, and 2 Department of Community Medicine, University of Zambia, School of Medicine, Lusaka, Zambia ABSTRACT Objective. To estimate the prevalence of current smoking, correlates of smoking and assess exposure to and perceptions towards smoking by gender. Methods. We used data from the South Korea Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). Frequencies of selected characteristics and their 95% confidence were obtained. Current cigarette smoking was defined as having smoked, even a single puff, within the last 30 days. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the factors that were considered to be associated with current cigarette smoking in bivariate and multivariate analyses. Results. Of the 5615 respondents, 7.4% males and 5.0% females reported being current smokers (p = 0.003). Having smoked friends who was strongly associated with smoking after controlling for age, gender, parental smoking status, exposure to anti-smoking media messages, and perception of risks of smoking (OR=69.92; 95% CI [41.24, 118.57] for most friends and OR=11.86; 95% CI [7.26, 19.36] for some friends). Male gender and having one or both smoking parents were associated with smoking (OR=1.43; 95% CI [1.09, 1.89] and OR=1.29; 95% CI [1.00-, 1.71] respectively). Exposure to anti- smoking media messages was negatively associated with smoking (OR=0.52; 95% CI [0.36, 0.77]. Conclusion. Prevalence of smoking among adolescents in South Korea is lower than in many other Asian countries. There is however, need to strengthen anti-tobacco messages especially among adolescents. [Indian J Pediatr 2009; 76 (5) : 505-510] Email: muula@yahoo.com Key words : Adolescents; Cigarettes; Smoking; Tobacco; South Korea Tobacco use is a leading cause of deaths among non- communicable diseases globally. 1 In the past 20 years mortality from lung and other tobacco-related cancers in Korea has increased, having largely been preceded by increase in prevalence of smoking. 2-4 Many adults initiate smoking as adolescents, therefore prevention of cigarette smoking among adolescents is of paramount importance. While many of the adverse health effects of cigarette smoking are experienced later in the life of the smoker, adolescent smoking has also short term untoward implications. Adolescent smokers have high incidence of asthma, 5 exacerbation of asthma 6 and wheezing. 7 Smoking in adolescents may also be a marker of other problem behaviors and unhealthy lifestyles. 8 Park et al have reported that smoking was associated with suicidal ideation among adolescents in Korea. 9,10 Shin et al have reported that snoring in class was associated with being a smoker among adolescents in Korea. 11 Elliot et al have reported that adolescent females who used anabolic steroids were also likely to smoke cigarette in the United States. 12 There is a growing literature on the prevalence of adolescent cigarette smoking in Korea. Many of the studies have reported mainly on demographic factors associated with being a smoker. Few studies have documented whether there are differences in the perceptions of smoking between boys and girls. The present study was carried out to assess the socio-demographic correlates of current smoking; compare exposure to tobacco-related Indian Journal of Pediatrics, Volume 76—May, 2009 505