Smoking among students in a rural secondary school

• Main Authors: Teh, Kok Hoi, Ling, Kin Hong
• Format: Article
• Published: Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya 2000
• Subjects: R Medicine
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/24524/; https://jummec.um.edu.my/article/view/4468
• Institution: Universiti Malaya

A cross-sectional study on the prevalence of smoking among Form 3, 4 and 5 students of a rural national co-educational school was carried out using a self administered questionnaire. By the age of 18 years old, three quarters of boys had tried smoking compared with 12% of girls. About a third of boys were still smokers while only 0.''/u of girls were still smokers. There was a higher prevalence of smokers among students who stayed with their parents and those who were working part-time. Most smokers knew about the dangerous and addictive effect of cigarette smoking but smoked because of "influence by school peers", "curiosity" and '"to increase concentration and decrease tension'.