Tobacco Consumption among High School Adolescents

Abstract

This article highlights the practice of tobacco consumption among high school adolescents of Hariwan municipality, a growing semi-urban area of Sarlahi district in Nepal. The study utilized descriptive cross-sectional survey research design with quantitative method to get the required information to the study. Four high schools (two community and two private schools) were randomly sampled to select the respondents. In total, 224 adolescents (n=224) aged 15 to 19 years studying in grade eleven and twelve were selected. A set of pretested self-administered questionnaire was employed to collect the required information. Before data were collected, verbal consent was obtained from the authority of schools and respondents themselves. Only self-reported primary nature of data were utilized to obtain answers to the research questions. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS software with 16.0 versions. Chi-square test and t-test of bivariate analysis were used to analyze the results. The study revealed that around one-fourth (22.8 %) of high school adolescents consumed at least one type of tobacco products. Cigarette was the most common tobacco product among the youth followed by Panparag and Gutkha. Most of them consumed tobacco for entertainment followed by experimentation. Various factors are associated with the consumption of tobacco amongst which peer pressure, parental and relatives' influence, and media exposure remain significant ones. Monitoring high-risk behaviors, announcing tobacco-free public places, making aware towards glamorized tobacco promotional pro-active advertisements, etc. will be effective to minimize the tobacco consumption practice among in-school youths.Journal of Health Promotion Vol.6 2008, p.86-91

Factors associated with tobacco consumption behavior of adolescent students

“…For boys it is lower and for girls it is higher than the findings of this study. Upreti [18] found 22.8% adolescent students consumed tobacco, which is slightly lower than the findings of this study. Prevalence of tobacco consumption among students was 15.6 % [14] and 19.7% [24] that is lower than findings of this study.…”

“…Joshi, Pradhan [26] found that prevalence of consumption of smokeless tobacco and betel nut among students was 6% and 40.5%, respectively. Unlike this study, cigarette was popular among more students (44.4%) than paan parag (25%) and gutkha (11.2%) [18]. Similarly, Chaudhary and Bhandari [14] found that more than two-third (70.8%) students smoked and others consumed smokeless tobacco.…”

“…Similarly, tobacco use is higher among men, people with no education or lower level of education, people from lower economic status, and higher age group [16]. Not only this, tobacco consumption has become accepted behavior and a means of meeting with friends and relatives in Nepal [17], and consumption of tobacco among adolescent students [14, 18] is higher in districts of Madhesh Province. In this regard, this paper aims to describe tobacco consumption behavior of adolescent students, and factors associated with it.…”

Predicting Smokeless Tobacco Consumption Behavior of Adolescent Students Through Protection Motivation Theory

“…But, Bhaskar et al (2016) found that among 25.3 % (boys-31%, girls-14.4%) users, 7.7 % and 17.6% students smoked and consumed SLT, respectively. Likewise, Upreti (2018) found that among tobacco consumer, most students smoked (44.4%) and 25% and 11.2% consumed paan-parag and gutkha, respectively. A study from Pakistan shows that SLT and/or BQ was consumed by 42.6% of students, and proportion of boys was higher than proportion girls who consumed it (Hussain et al, 2017).…”