Smoking behavior and its influence factors among pupils in Ningbo city

ObjectiveTo examine smoking behavior and its influence factors among pupils in Ningbo city and to provide evidence for smoking control in adolescents.MethodsWith multiple stage random cluster sampling method,4 336 pupils from 11 elementary schools were selected and investigated with a questionnaire survey.ResultsThe number of pupils who have tried smoking was 640 with a smoking-attempting rate of 14.9%.Among the pupils with smoking-attempting,74.2% began to smoke before nine years old and 68.4% attempted to smoke because of curiosity.There were 16.9% of the pupils witnessed the smoking of their partners.The passive smoking rate at home of the pupils was 73.7%,and 29.1% of the teachers smoked in the pupils'presence.The risk factors of smoking-attempting for the pupils included male, older age,low knowledge rate on health,high smoking rate among the partners,high passive smoking rate within the latest week,and with less education on tobacco control.ConclusionThe smoking rate is high and the age of smoking-attempting is young among the pupils in Ningbo city,and the pupils had a high rate of passive smoking and a low awareness rate of smoking addiction and hazads.