Knowledge and Attitude of Teenagers Towards Electronic Cigarettes in Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract

IntroductionStudies have shown that electronic cigarettes have gained immense popularity and their use has increased dramatically all over the world. However, little is known about the knowledge and attitudes towards e-cigarettes in third world countries such as Pakistan. The aim of this study was to determine the perceptions of teenagers in Karachi regarding e-cigarettes and whether the differences in said perceptions were affected by gender and level of education.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study in January 2017 using convenience sampling and interviewed 441 young individuals, aged 13 to 19 years, to determine their knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding e-cigarettes. The participants were questioned about their knowledge and its source. Attitudes were judged using four and five-point Likert scales while questions regarding practices focused on single and current use. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests were applied to compare the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of teenagers with gender and level of schooling.ResultsThe majority of participants knew what e-cigarettes were (n=277, 68.7%) but did not know about their contents (n=225, 55.8%) and had learned about them from either friends or the internet (n=245, 60.%). Almost half of them (n=190, 47.2%) believed that the reason for e-cigarette use was either peer pressure or to quit smoking conventional cigarettes. An overwhelming majority also stated that; it was either easy or very easy to obtain e-cigarettes (n=277, 68.7%), they would not try smoking e-cigarettes even if a good friend of theirs recommended them (n=287, 71.2%), they were not current e-cigarette smokers (n=370, 91.8%) and they would never promote e-cigarette use (n=371, 92.1%). Statistically significant differences were found with males knowing more about e-cigarettes (p=0.006) and being more common to either have smoked (p <0.001) or be current e-cigarette smokers (p <0.001). Furthermore, middle school students were more likely to have negative attitudes towards e-cigarettes believing they were more harmful (p=0.003) and more addictive (p <0.001) than conventional cigarettes.ConclusionMany people were aware of what electronic cigarettes are but still, it was evident that there was the lack of proper knowledge along with negative attitudes towards e-cigarette use among teenagers in Pakistan due to cultural and social stigmas and lack of advertising. Males and females had considerable differences in their opinions regarding e-cigarette use owing to such social practices being considered taboo by females and males having greater freedom due to patriarchal, familial and cultural systems.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice on Electronic Cigarette and their Associated Factors among Undergraduate Students in a Public University

“…The percentage of respondents in our study who were unsure of the contents inside the cigarette was similar to the findings in a study in Pakistan. 34 When asked whether it contained nicotine, slightly more than half (53.1%) answered 'yes' and only 28.5% respondents answered that it does not contain tar.…”

“…The finding was in line with another study that reported young women have relatively poor knowledge on smoking behavior. 34,38,39 This is probably due to the differences in their risk perception and risk-taking behaviour, which may influence the male participants to explore more information on risk-taking behaviour. 40 Our results however differs from another study which emphasized that female participants have higher knowledge on smoking than the male, but their finding was not significant.…”

<p>Parental Knowledge and Attitude Regarding E-Cigarette Use in Saudi Arabia and the Effect of Parental Smoking: A Cross-Sectional Study</p>

“…Parents were provided with a self-administered questionnaire constructed after a thorough literature review. 15,[32][33][34] The questionnaire was sent to two experts in the field for content validity, and they interviewed 20 mothers for face validity. The questionnaire was modified accordingly.…”

Peningkatan Pengetahuan Remaja Tentang Bahaya Rokok Elektronik

“…Paparan informasi rokok elektronik pada remaja banyak berasal dari media elektronik (Putra et al, 2017;Wagoner et al, 2019), teman (Nurmalasari, Nirmalasari, & Verawati, 2018;Putra et al, 2017;Shaikh et al, 2017)…”

“…Sejalan dengan studi yang dilakukan di Pakistan, walaupun mayoritas remaja tahu e-cig, namun tidak memahami informasi yang lengkap dan komprehensif tentang kandungannya (Shaikh et al, 2017), bahaya dan ilusi yang ditawarkan e-cig kepada remaja (Ferkol et al, 2018). Ditambah lagi kesimpang siuran informasi dan sumber informasi yang tidak tepat yang diakses oleh remaja menjerumuskan remaja ke persepsi dan perilaku yang salah dan merugikan.…”