• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.60-65
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• 2017

Objectives: We examined the prevalence of tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke among middle-school students in Korea using the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) in 2013. Methods: The GYTS in Korea was conducted between July and August 2013 by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data were collected using a self-administered anonymous questionnaire from a nationally representative sample of middle-school students aged 13-15 years in sampled classrooms. Results: The GYTS in Korea was completed by 4235 students aged 13-15 years in 43 middle schools. Approximately one in five of the students (17.8%) reported that they had tried cigarettes in the past, while 5.2% reported currently being cigarette smokers. Current cigarette smoking was higher in boys (7.5%) than in girls (2.6%). Of the students, 29.7% had been exposed to secondhand smoke at home, 47.4% inside enclosed public places, and 53.9% in outdoor public places. Of the current cigarette smokers, 25.7% bought their cigarettes from a store despite a law prohibiting this. Additionally, 58.0% of students noticed point-of-sale tobacco advertisements or promotions, 66.8% of current cigarette smokers wanted to stop smoking, and 70.9% of students had been taught about the dangers of tobacco use in school. Conclusions: These findings provide an opportunity to develop, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive tobacco control policy. The results suggest that youth have relatively easy access to cigarettes and are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke in public places, as well as to point-of-sale tobacco advertisements and promotions. Strict enforcement of the ban on tobacco sales to youth, expanding smoke-free areas, and advertising bans are needed to reduce tobacco use among youth.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup1
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• pp.11-15
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• 2016

Viet Nam is a country with the highest rate of adult male smokers in the world. In 2010, the percentage of adult male smokers was 47.4%. Each year in Viet Nam, there are 40,000 lives lost from tobacco-related diseases. The Global Tobacco Youth Survey is an international standardized survey that has been conducted in more than 140 countries. To provide evidence for tobacco control, Viet Nam already conducted two rounds of GYTS in 2003 and 2007. The GYTS in 2014 is the survey's third iteration. This paper aims to document key methodological details and socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents included in the 2014 GYTS in Viet Nam. This survey followed international protocol and was conducted in 13 provinces representative of 6 geographical regions. A total of 3,430 school children, aged 13 to 15 years used a standardized answer sheet to answer 76 questions about seven tobacco-related topics, including prevalence of tobacco use, environmental tobacco smoke, access and availability, media and advertisement, cessation, knowledge and attitudes, tobacco-related school curriculum. This GYTS provides valid and reliable data for monitoring tobacco use among youth in Vietnam and is recommended to be regularly repeated.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.17
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• pp.7535-7540
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• 2015

Background: Early initiation of smoking and chewing of diverse forms of tobacco among youth in India is a significant driver for tobacco epidemic in India. Several socio-demographic factors are predictors of tobacco use in populations, especially among youth. Interventions which address these socio-demographic factors can help policy makers to curb new initiations and avert morbidity and mortality due to tobacco use. Objective: To study the various sociodemographic variables associated with tobacco use among youth in India. Materials and Methods: Secondary analysis of data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey-India 2009-10 for the age group of 15-24 years was performed and predictors of smoking and smokeless tobacco were analyzed using data on occupation, education, and other sociodemographic factors. Results: In India there are a total of 51.3 million (22.1%) youth (15-24 years) tobacco users. Of these 35.1 million consumes chewable tobacco (15.1%), 16.2 million smoke (7%) and 1.6 million are dual users (3.1%). Males, urban, less educated, un-employed and those belonging to middle class preferred smoking over chewing; whereas, females, rural, students and those belonging to low socio-economic class are predictors of smokeless tobacco use. The major determinants of dual users are male sex, poor socio-economic strata and student class. The overall tobacco use was higher among males, rural populations, lower socioeconomic strata and un-employed class. Conclusions: India's youth is more susceptible to the tobacco addiction, especially of smokeless tobacco. Youth from rural India especially students, girls and those from poor socio-economic strata prefer to use smokeless tobacco products whereas urban, male and those less educated prefer smoking tobacco products. More population-based and region-focused research is needed to understand initiation patterns into tobacco use among youth so as to inform policymakers to devise new policy measures to curb the growing epidemic.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.539-543
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• 2012

Background: The results of the Global School Personnel Survey (GSPS) conducted in India in 2009 are compared with 2006 GSPS to assess any change in 2009 on tobacco use and knowledge and attitudes to tobacco use, training and availability of tobacco control teaching material in schools and the existence of school tobacco control policies. Methods: GSPS is a cross sectional survey conducted twice (2006 and 2009) in entire India. A total of 180 schools were surveyed each time. Results: Of the participating school personnel, 2660 in 2006 and 2575 in 2009, about 95% were teachers and the balance administrators. In 2009, compared to 2006 the prevalence of current smoking of cigarettes (19.6% in 2006 and 10.3% in 2009) and bidis (21.5% in 2006 and 13.9% in 2009) was found to be significantly lower; the percentage of teachers receiving training on preventing youth tobacco use has significantly reduced (16.7% in 2006 and 10.1% in 2009); access of teachers to educational materials on tobacco use and how to prevent its use among youth had not increased (34.6% in 2006 and 37.8% in 2009); there was no change in policy prohibiting tobacco use among students and school personnel; however, ever use of any tobacco on school premises was significantly lower (15.6% in 2006 and 9.6% in 2009). Conclusions: The prevalence of current smoking (cigarettes/bidis) among school personnel and use of any tobacco on school premises were significantly decreased in 2009 as compared to 2006. Necessary action should be planned to increase the number of teachers trained and the availability of teaching materials on preventing youth tobacco use in order to have effective prevention of tobacco use among students.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2016

Scientific evidence on all aspects of smoking amongst youth is very important for designing appropriate interventions to reduce smoking among this vulnerable population. This paper describes current access to anti-smoking information among school children aged 13 to 15 years in Vietnam in 2014 and examines its potential impact on preventing smoking initiation. The data used in this paper were obtained from the 2014 Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) in Vietnam. Students were asked questions about their level of awareness of anti-smoking information from various sources in the past 30 days and about lessons in school regarding the dangers of tobacco use during the last 12 months. Those who have never smoked were asked "whether or not they thought about avoiding cigarettes because of health warnings on cigarette packages" and answers were analyzed in combination with data on access to anti-smoking information from other sources. The prevalence of exposure to antismoking campaigns was high among school children in Viet Nam: 55.3% of current smokers reported thoughts of smoking cessation because of health warnings on cigarette packages; 60.5% of never smokers avoided initiating smoking because of the same health warnings. The potential impact of graphic health warnings to prevent school-aged children from smoking initiation would be stronger if there was concurrent access to anti-smoking programs on the dangers of tobacco use in schools. However, school education for tobacco prevention and control has not been as strong as expected. A more comprehensive school curriculum on tobacco prevention and control is recommended to reinforce antismoking messages among school children.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6299-6302
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• 2015

Background: The rise in consumption of tobacco products among youth is a public health concern in India. Several studies have shown that advertisements promoting tobacco products influence decisions and behaviour of youth towards smoking. Objective: To ascertain which method of Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship (TAPS) was more influential for initiating tobacco use in youth in India. Materials and Methods: The secondary data of youth (15-24 years) from nationally representative Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) conducted in 2009-2010 was analyzed. Odds ratio and p-value were used to know the association between TAPS and initiation of use of tobacco products among youth. Logistic regression was used to determine the most significant means of TAPS altering the youth's behaviour towards tobacco products. Results: Out of 13,383 youths, 1,982 (14.7%) used smokeless forms of tobacco and 860 (6.38%) used smoke forms. Logistic regression reveals that promotional activities mainly through cinemas (p<0.05) and providing free samples of tobacco products (p < = .001) were most influential means of initiating consumption of tobacco products among youth. Conclusions: The smoking in youth is associated with watching advertisements particularly in cinema and promotional activities like distribution of free samples, coupons and sales on the price of tobacco products. Stronger legislative measures should be enforced to curb promotional advertisements in cinemas and distribution of free samples.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.75-88
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• 2006

Purpose : This study are the secondary data of Global Youth Tobacco Survey(GYTS) developed by the WHO and United State Center for Disease Control(CDC) and Prevention to trace tobacco use among youth in youth in countries across the world. This study was carried out to serve for a basis for antismoking campaigns and to prevent adolescents from smoking by analyzing the smoking by analyzing the smoking realities factors. Methods : This study is a cross-sectional school-based survey, which employed a two-stage cluster sample design to produce a nationally representative sample of middle school students aged 13 to 15 years olds. Seventy-five schools were selected. All schools containing grade 1, 2 and 3 that contained 40 or students were included in the sampling frame. Results : The results of this study were as follows ; 1. The proportion of smoking students in middle school was 6.4% and the rate of smoking in male students(7.4%) was higher than it of in female students(5.5%). 2. 26.5% of all respondent had a experience to try smoke and the results showed that the rate of trying smoking in male students was increased by grade more than female students. 3. According to test of significance in regression analysis, the independent variables such as sex, school grade, smoking parents, friends distinction, pocket money and others showed statistical significance. 4. There was a statistical significance between smokers and nonsmokers in proportion to the completing the preventive education for nonsmoking(p=0.0023) and the acquirement of knowledge on smoking(p<.0001). 5. Finally there was a statistical significance between the exposure to anti-smoking campaign(p=0.0053) and tobacco advertisement in the mass media and the smoking(p=0.0036). Conclusion : All things considered, the health education for tobacco control in school need to be developed from an elementary school. I suggest that prevent smoking program in school need to be revitalized and be made more accessible for everyone who wish to quit. And the government should develop the regulation on total banning promoting cigarette advertising and smoking scene in the movie for young people.

• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.6
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• pp.1-16
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• 2005

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.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2016

Efforts to reduce tobacco use among school children need to be based on understanding of access to cigarettes by these subjects because previous studies indicated that enforcement of laws for controlling tobacco sales seems to not affect teen/school children because they can obtain cigarettes from different sources. This paper aims to describe access to and availability of cigarettes among school students (aged 13-15 years old) according to the data from GYTS Vietnam 2014. In GYTS, a national school-based survey of students of grades 8-10, our findings showed that about 15% school children are current smokers who smoke at home, and that they could easily buy cigarettes from stores (63.2%), or someone else (27.8%), or street vendors (9%). Notably, over 85% of school children answered that they were not refused because of their age. This high percentage was nearly the same in the North (85.7%), the Centre (92.5%), and the South (89.7%) of Viet Nam. These findings show that it is quite easy for school children to obtain cigarettes and this is a crucial challenge for policy makers aiming to reduce tobacco use among youth in general and school-age students in particular.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup1
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• pp.43-47
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• 2016

Second-hand tobacco smoke (SHS) exposure at home, especially among children, is a serious issue in Viet Nam. During the past decade, much effort has been taken for tobacco control in the country, including various prgorammes aiming to reduce SHS exposure among adults and children. This article analysed trends and factors associated with SHS exposure at home among school children aged 13-15 in Viet Nam, using the Global Youth Tobacco Surveys conducted in 2007 and 2014. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods with logistic regression were applied. Overall, there was a significant reduction in the level of exposure, from 58.5% (95%CI: 57.6-59.3) in 2007 to 47.1% (95%CI: 45.4-48.8) in 2014. Of the associated factors, having one or both parents smoking was significantly associated with the highest odds of SHS exposure at home (OR=5.0; 95%CI: 4.2-6.1). Conversely, having a mother with a college or higher education level was found to be a protective factor (OR=0.5; 95%CI: 0.3-0.8).