Similarities and Differences between Smoking and Non-smoking Ten-year-old Children in Primary Schools

Abstract

Background: For the majority of smokers, smoking is related to other forms of risk behaviour, especially poorer eating habits. The primary preventive educational programme "No smoking is a norm" focuses on children of younger school age (under 10 yrs), enables comparison and statistical evaluation of whether there are any differences (and which) between ten-year-olds with various smoking experiences, with special attention paid to their exposure to the influence of smokers, and their eating habits. Methods: Analysis of data gained from a questionnaire compared groups of boys and girls, smokers and non-smokers, and children from families with no smokers, occasional smokers, and frequent smokers. Statistical significance of the differences was tested in the EPI INFO programme by means of the χ 2 test. Results: From 1,082 children, almost one quarter (22.9%) have already tried smoking, boys more frequently (25%) than girls (19%) (p<0.05); and almost 7% smoked repeatedly. The household is the most frequently stated environment for accessing cigarettes in children: 51% of children are given cigarettes by their parents, siblings, grandparents or other relatives, another almost 17% take cigarettes themselves from unprotected stock. From 246 children who have smoked, more than one third were offered cigarettes by their friends, and some (4%) even bought them. Children with smoking experience more often come from smokers' families and more often have smoking siblings and friends who offer them cigarettes. Children claimed to have consumed alcoholic drinks over the past month, repeatedly smoking more often than those with one attempt (aprox. 81% vs 58%) and never smokers (32%). Smokers also more frequently ate salty snacks such as crisps, sausages, and fast foods. The circumstance of whether there are smokers in the child's household or not significantly influenced children's opinions on the smoking of men/boys and women/girls (fewer critics and more admirers in smokers' families), selection of friends, availability of cigarettes, and smoking behaviour of the children. Conclusion: The examination of a cohort of ten-year-olds in a semi-longitudinal study confirmed the growing trend of experimenting with smoking. Strong relations to smoking behaviour in families were identified-such that influence a more tolerant approach to parents' smoking, selection of smoking or non-smoking friends, more frequent consumption of alcohol and salty snacks.

Tobacco Use and Its Association with Mental Morbidity and Health Compromising Behaviours in Adolescents in Indonesia

“…dietary behaviour, such as inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption (Wang et al, 2017;Lee and Yi, 2016), fast food consumption (Hrubá et al, 2010;Larson et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2017), higher frequency of eating out (Fujita and Maki, 2018), high sugar foods (Lee and Yi, 2016), soft drink intake (Larsen et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2017), high sodium or salty snacks consumption (Hrubá et al, 2010), were less likely to eat milk and dairy products (Lee and Yi, 2016;Wang et al, 2017), and skipped breakfast (Cohen et al, 2003;Wang et al, 2017). In addition, tobacco use increased the odds of exercise (Lee and Yi, 2016) and school truancy (Tomori et al, 2001).…”

“…In adjusted logistic regression analysis, compared to non-current or never tobacco users, current tobacco use was associated with eight of eight mental problem indicators [lonely: Adjusted Odds Ratio-AOR: 1.87, 95% Confidence Interval-CI: 1.37-2.54), anxiety Halperin et al, 2010;Han et al, 2009;Hrubá et al, 2010;Larson et al, 2007;Lee et al, 2018;Peltzer and Pengpid, 2017;Saravanan and Heidhy, 2014;Tomori et al, 2001;Wang et al, 2017). Alcohol use is known to be a comorbidity of tobacco use (Konkolÿ et al, 2016;Peltzer and Pengpid, 2018), and this study showed a very high association between tobacco and alcohol use.…”