Youth's smoking status in Seoul in the international perspective: Overall comparisons with the results of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS)

서울지역 청소년 흡연실태의 국제 비교: Global Youth Tobacco Survey(GYTS)의 자료를 이용하여

This study was conducted to the middle and high school students in some Seoul and Kyunki areas to identify the smoking behavior characteristics among adolescences. A self-administered survey was conducted to the 2nd grad students in 4 middle schools and 6 high schools and the survey Questionnaire included general characteristics, smoking and drug use history, the close people's smoking and drug use, smoking and drug abuse prevention education, smoking intention, and smoking attitude. A total of 2,452 youths finished the survey (1,182 middle school students and 1,270 high school students). Current smoking students were 14.6%, the ex-smokers were 5.5%, and the never smokers were 85.4%. Majority of students smoked less than 5 bars of cigarettes and their first smoking experiences were related to their family members (siblings, parents, and relatives), friends, advertisement in order. Other GYTS countries reported the similar sources of the smoking start and friend was prior smoking start factor to the other sources. The students who wanted to Quit smoking were 6.7% and the students who ever had tried to Quit smoking were 9.1%. The major reasons of Quitting smoking were for their health and for their financial burden. Approximately 60% learned about smoking and drug abuse in their regular school classes, 8.4% were in the special school activities, and 7.9% were in the class closing time sometimes in order. The students who learned in any regular class were smaller in the high school students than in the middle school students. The learning experiences in school of other GYTS countries were similar to that of Korea. In conclusion, students' smoking was affected not only by the preventive activities in school but also by the close people's behaviors and care in this study; therefore, the active partnership between school and family must be a strong strategy for youth's smoking prevention.