Title:
Smoking among vocational school students at Rajasitharam Technical College, Bangbon district, Bangkok, Thailand
Abstract:
The main purpose of this study was to study factors associate with the smoking behavior among the vocational school students at Rajasitharam Technical College, Bangkok. This study also identified the prevalence of smoking, knowledge and attitude towards tobacco use, explored the factors associated with smoking habit and identified the prevalence of health problems due to smoking among these students. Finding showed that the current smoking and ex-smoking prevalence rates among those students were 23.4 % and 34.9 % respectively. First age of cigarette smoking was 12 years old and most of respondents were smoking more than 10 cigarettes per day and more than three years duration of smoking. The prevalence rate of smoking was increasing with the year of education and age. Many respondents had high level of knowledge, moderate level of attitude and correct perception about smoking. There was no correlation among knowledge, attitude and perception. There was also no association between peer pressure, smoker In their family, parental smoking Marlboro was the most favorite brand of cigarette. Main reasons for smoking in these students were pleasure of relaxation and reduced stress. Almost half of smokers intended to quit smoking because of health-related issue and the rest wanted to continue smoking because of release or decrease tension, difficulty in quitting, smoking friends and addiction effect. Significant association of alcohol drinking and smoking was shown in this study. Smoking respondents were more likely to use the stimulant like Ecstacy (E). It was about 8.09 times more than the non-smoking respondents.
TRC Data Center