Objectives: This study was conducted to examine the smoking habits among
male secondary school students in Al-Qassim, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and
to assess their knowledge and attitudes towards smoking.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Al-Qassim region, KSA
during March 2003. Randomly selected was 14 out of 110 government male
secondary schools. In the sample section, care was taken to represent urban and
rural communities. In urban areas, 8 schools with the largest number of students
were selected. This is in addition to 3 schools, which were the only schools with
special education on Islamic, Commercial and Technical programs. In the rural
areas the 3 most distant schools were included in the sample. Data were obtained
through self-administered questionnaires that contained questions on personal
background, smoking behavior, knowledge and attitude towards cigarette
smoking. A total of 2203 students responded to the questionnaires with 83%
response rate.
Results: Of the studied group, 606 (29.8%) were current smokers and among
these 83.7% started smoking at the age of 15 years or less. Technical and
commercial secondary school students had higher prevalence of the habit of
smoking than those in general and Islamic secondary schools. It was found that
the more pocket money received by the students, the higher was the prevalence
of smoking. The most common reason given for cigarette smoking behavior (CSB)
was the influence of friends (63.5%). Family factor, especially the brother’s
smoking habit (24.8%) was also important. Most of the students knew that
smoking is harmful to their own health (89.3%), and to others (73.9%). The
association between smoking and lung cancer was 84.3%, 80.9% for chest
disease and 78.2% for heart disease, while the relation to other diseases was less
known.
Conclusions: We conclude that onset of smoking in the young is alarming. This
is of immense importance in formulating health education strategies, which
should be directed towards pupils, teachers and parents. The religious aspect
should also be an integral part of such programs. |
