Smoking Patterns among Primary School Students in Turkey

Journal of School Health, 2009

PURPOSE: The objectives of this study were to determine the levels of lifetime cigarette use, daily use, and current use among young people (aged 15-19 years) and to examine the risk factors contributing to regular smoking.

Introduction: The World Health Organisation has declared that smoking is the biggest health problem, since over four million people die because of it every year and it causes much harm. The assumption that all over the world, including Turkey, about 45% of the population over 15 years old has a smoking habit on a very serious scale reveals how important the problem is for the young population. Material and Method: This study was carried out to determine the smoking status of the final grade students at Atatürk University in the 2003-2004 academic year. A questionnaire form developed by the researchers was used as the data gathering tool. Results: It was found that 42.0% of the participants had smoked (continuous and occasional smoking). The age of onset of smoking was mainly between 14 and 21 years. There was a statistically strong association between duration of smoking, starting time, and smoking amount (p<0.001), including the association between age of onset and smoking status of the students (p<0.05). Of the students, 22.1% stated that they did not know why they started smoking. Their main answers were; 56.5% of them stated they smoked to relieve their stress feelings, 24.6% stated they smoked for pleasure. Conclusion: Cigarette are widely used by university students. The reason why the students started smoking was mostly fellowship environment, and the reason for continuing to smoke was mostly to relieve stress. (Tur Toraks Der 2008;9:93-8) Key words: Smoking, university student, Erzurum, Turkey.

Eurasian Journal of Pulmonology, 2015

Objective: We aimed to evaluate smoking habits of students, reasons of smoking and students' level of knowledge on the adverse effects of smoking in a state high school in İstanbul. Methods: A 15-item questionnaire was administered to the students attending a state high school in İstanbul to evaluate their attitudes and behaviors towards cigarette smoking. The questionnaire was completed by each class of students at the same class period under the supervision of their teachers. Results: The questionnaire was completed by 415 students at the respective school. While 349 students (84%) never smoke, 66 (15.9%) students were either current smokers or quitters. Fifty five of the students (13.2%) were active smokers. When we looked at the reasons of smoking, they reported that 63.6% smoked cigarettes because their friends did; 47.2% smoked cigarettes due to exam-related stress; and 40% smoked cigarettes due to family problems. The rate of smoking friends in the smoker group was significantly higher than in the non-smoker group (p=0.0001). A logistic regression analysis showed that having smoking friends was associated with an 8-fold increase in the risk of smoking compared to having no smoking friends. Conclusion: The most common reasons of smoking at the school were friends who were smokers, exam-related stress and family problems. Having friends who smoke was associated with an 8-fold increase in the risk of smoking. We believe that counselling services' close engagement with family problems of students and exam-related stress issues and helping them to cope with these problems may prevent their vulnerability to toxic substances.

Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2014

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Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP, 2011

This is a descriptive study to determine the smoking prevalence and attitudes with smoking among high school students in Sivas, Turkey. This study was carried out in 6 high schools located in Sivas, Turkey. The sample was constituted by 1050 students. The data of the study was obtained by a questionnaire which is developed by researchers. The x2 test was used in the statistical analyses. In this study, the rate of students who did not smoke or stopped smoking was found to be 79.6%, while the rate of occasionaly or daily smokers was 20.4%. Students with male gender, those whose fathers and mothers had a low educational level, and a smoking mother, father or sibling, had a higher frequency of smoking (p&lt; 0.05). Students were found to have opposite attitudes to cigarette in general and rates of agreed to some attitude expressions were found to be higher in non-smoking students. The results demonstrated that the smoking prevalence among high school students was high and students with...

West Indian Medical Journal, 2006

The sample was selected from the first and final year students of all faculties in Cukurova University. The students who were present on the day of the survey were all included in the study. The students filled in an anonymous questionnaire detailing their sociodemographic characteristics and smoking behaviour. A random sample of 2200 students in Cukurova University was enrolled in the study representing a total of 8309 students for this random cross-sectional study. The response rate was 90.9% (n = 2131). A self-administered questionnaire was completed by all students. Outcome measures were smoking prevalence, family and peer smoking, grade, gender and place of living that may be related to smoking. Logistic regression was used to examine the determinants of smoking behaviour. Results: Smoking increased between the ages of 13 and 17 years (26.6% and 43.7%, respectively). The smoking behaviour of best friends was the most powerful determinant of smoking, and this was consistent across the age groups. Best friends' attitudes towards smoking and family members' smoking behaviour were also important determinants of smoking. Conclusions: Smoking prevalence among students in Cukurova University, in Southern Turkey, is high. Effective smoking prevention programmes should take into account the dominant influence of peers on the onset and maintenance of smoking behaviour. School-related items had a less important role in predicting smoking behaviour than expected.

2020

Objectives: The study aims to assess the rate of tobacco use and its effects on the younger generation in Turkey through a systematic review. Method: A systematic review was conducted on the rate of tobacco use in Turkey and its effects on the younger ones. Articles reviewed were retrieved from Sciencedirect, Google scholar, Medline and PubMed on tobacco use. Results: The study revealed that about 14.5 million adults and 252,000 children in Turkey use tobacco every day. It also revealed that more males smoke than females. The effects of smoking on the younger generation do not only include health problems from second hand smoking and others but also an avenue for children to initiate smoking early. The country has a tobacco control law since 1997. Conclusion: The rate of smoking is high and its effects are numerous. There are good anti-tobacco laws in Turkey but much effort needs to be done in reducing the rate of smoking in Turkey.

Journal of Addictions Nursing, 2015

Introduction: The age of starting the habit of smoking, one of the top causes of many illnesses, is usually in the period of adolescence. This study was conducted to determine students' smoking status and to explore their desire to quit and their experiences during the cessation process. Methods: This descriptive study was performed with 934 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 20 years at a vocational high school located in Istanbul, Turkey. The data were collected by using a survey form. Results: The mean age of the adolescents was 16.38 T 1.12 years. Among the adolescents, 90.3% were male. Of the group, 29.9% reported that they had smoked at least once, and 12.1% of the participants smoked regularly. Among the students who smoked, 80% reported that they wanted to quit smoking. Among the smokers, 55.2% reported that they tried to quit smoking but could only stop smoking for a period of between 1 day and 1 month at maximum (71.4%). A group of 68.9% reported that they wanted to quit because they were afraid of getting sick in the future, 28.8% indicated economic reasons to quit smoking, and 24.2% reported that they wanted to stop smoking because they did not want to damage the environment. Conclusion: More than half of the smokers among the students had tried to stop smoking, but most of them had failed to quit. These results indicate that schools need programs for the cessation and the prevention of smoking.

Tüberküloz ve toraks, 2009

Cigarette, alcohol and substance use is a worldwide threat which especially affects young people and a preventable public health problem. Aim of the study is to investigate the prevalence of substance use and the factors affecting this prevalence among the students of primary and high school students in Diyarbakir. 62% of the students were males, and 38% were females. The age range was from 11 to 20 and the mean age was 15.2 + 2.0. The smoking prevalence was a total of 14.8% (6.0% in females and 20.2% in males), 5.8% in primary school students, 23.7% in high school students. The mean first-smoking age was found as 12.6 + 2.3 years. Smoking were more common among male students than girls. Close friends and teachers were source of imitation to smoke cigarettes. Other associated factors were age, buying cigarettes from the corner shops for parents, usage of other addictive substances. Cigarette use among students attending to schools in Diyarbakir is significant health problem and prev...

The European Journal of Public Health, 2005

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the social determinants of smoking among adolescents attending school and/or work. Methods: A survey was carried out on 6012 adolescents aged between 13 and 17 years in 15 cities, recruited from schools, vocational training centres and work places. A self-completed questionnaire was used for data collection. Single-and multi-level regression analyses were run to estimate models. Results: Ever smoking and current smoking rates were 41.1% and 10.5% among girls, and 57.5% and 25.2% among boys. These rates were 47.0% and 13.3% among those who only attended school, 62.2% and 31.7% among those who attended school and worked simultaneously, and 67.5% and 43.0% among those who worked and did not attend school. In multi-level analysis, the major predictors of current smoking were close friends smoking [odds ratio (OR) 3.48; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.93-6.27], no knowledge of harmful effects of short-term smoking (OR 2.15; 95% CI 1.74 -2.67), vulnerability to peer pressure (OR 1.90; 95% CI 1.48-2.46), negative self-perception (OR 1.69; 95% CI 1.31-2.18) and male sex (OR 1.68; 95% CI 1.30 -2.16). Mothers higher education was a predictor for girls' smoking, while mother's lower education was a predictor for boys' smoking. At the school level, smoking prevalence was a predictor of current smoking (OR 1.07; 95% CI 1.05-1.08). Conclusions: