The Prevalence of Tobacco Smoking and Risk Factors of Vocational School Students in Taiwan

Su-Chen Wang ； Albert Y. C. Hung

《工程科技與教育學刊》 9卷4期 (2012/12) Pp. 460-469

https://doi.org/10.6451/JETE.201212.0460

並列摘要

To investigate the prevalence of and risk factors associated with tobacco smoking of vocational school students in Taiwan. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was designed. Students studying at vocational schools (manufacturing, commercial, fishery/agricultural, and medical technology) among northern, central, southern and eastern areas in Taiwan were selected by using stratification and clustering techniques. The students then completed a self-reported questionnaire after a trained interviewer had explained the study to them. Results: Valid data from 2,054 students was available for analysis. Among this group of students, 21.5% were ex-smokers and 20.7% were current smokers of tobacco. The prevalence of current tobacco smoking among students was slightly higher in fishery/agricultural schools (24.4%) than in other vocational schools (17.6%-23.0%). Curiosity (26.4%) and peer pressure (23.2%) were the major reasons for starting tobacco smoking. The main sources of smoking were self-bought (55.5%) and friends/classmates (28.1%). The current smokers accept tobacco, it was 9.0 times more prevalent than when the non-smoker. The probability of tobacco smoking among male students was higher than females from all types of vocational schools. The highest odds ratio of 3.014 fishery/ agricultural school students was significantly higher than commercial school students. The socio-economic factors of family and parental smoking habit influence of tobacco smoking behavior among students. Conclusions: The fishery/agricultural school student is the highest risk group of tobacco smoking in vocational school students. This study revealed that tobacco smoking behavior among vocational school students was affected with their family and peer, so that health authorities can develop health education program in dealing with the health risks of tobacco smoking among adolescent students of the highest risk group in Taiwan.

並列關鍵字

Tobacco smoking ； Prevalence ； Risk factor ； Vocational school students