RESUMEN
Susceptibility to smoking, which is defined as a lack of cognitive commitment not to smoke in the future, has been shown to be a predictor for adolescent smoking initiation in developed countries. This study aims to evaluate the utility of a susceptibility-to-smoke measure as a predictor of smoking initiation among adolescents in Kota Tinggi district, Johor Malaysia. Susceptibility to smoking was evaluated among 1763 adolescents at baseline using a two-item construct. At follow-up 12 months later, 1288 of the 1763 adolescents (73.1%) responded. Results showed 14.9% (n=188/1260) of the respondents were susceptible to smoking at baseline. Among the susceptible adolescents, 31.9% initiated smoking after one year. Respondents who were identified as susceptible to smoking by the measure were 3.7 times (95%; CI: 2.17- 6.30) more likely to initiate smoking compared to non-susceptible respondents after adjusting for gender, school locality, percentage of friends who smoke, father smoking, parental acceptance of smoking, and belief in the positive and negative consequences of smoking. The findings suggest that the susceptibility measure is a reliable predictor and can be used as a screening tool to identify adolescents who are at risk of initiating smoking.