Family closeness and youth smoking: a case study in UiTM Shah Alam

This paper attempts to examine the relationship between youths who are smokers and closeness to their familes. Family closeness was measured from two dimensions, namely family cohesion and family religious affiliation. Data were collected using a survey questionnaire distributed to Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) students in Shah Alam. Pearson correlation test was used to examine the significant association between youth smoking status and family cohesion variables, as well as family religious variables. Results show that there is a significant association between smoking status of respondents and closeness to family. Respondents who are not close to the family are more likely to be smokers. This can be observed from the negative correlation between smoking status and family cohesion at 99% significant level, which is -.218. Religious affiliation also shows negative relationship for the Muslims and non-Muslims which are -.109 and -.453 at 90% significant level. The correlation tests indicated that the closer the relationship between family members, the less probability that the respondents will smoke. These research findings suggest that to reduce youth smoking, greater emphasis should be given to the strengthening of family ties programs. This could be done through the involvement in children activities at the early child age. Family institutions should always be improved in order to build up or maintain good relationships among family members.