Risk factors of cigarette smoking among secondary school adolescents in Kuala Lumpur

Abstract

Smoking is an old vice that does not spare adolescents. This study was carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to examine smoking habits among urban secondary school children, and to identify risk factors of smoking among adolescents. A two stage stratified sampling design was used, covering all government secondary schools in Kuala Lumpur, but excluding the vocational schools. The age and ethnic distribution closely represented the distribution of secondary school students in Kuala Lumpur. The prevalence of smoking among the 8,532 students was 3.6%. More than 14.6% reported having tried smoking at least once. Smoking was more prevalent among the Malays compared to the other races. The mean age the adolescents started smoking was 13.1 years. The main risk factors identified in this study were gender, sibling smoking, peer pressure, ethnicity and father smoking. It is strongly recommended that health education intervention programmes be started to reduce or prevent smoking in primary and secondary schools and to determine their effects on future generations.