Current situation and influencing factors of smoking attempt among junior high school students in Tibet

  Objective  To examine current situation and influencing factors of smoking attempt among junior high school students in Tibet and to provide evidences for developing tobacco control measures for the students.

  Methods  We conducted a questionnaire survey among 3 652 students selected with stratified multistage random cluster sampling from 28 junior high schools in 8 counties/districts in Tibet between October and December 2013.

  Results  The rate of smoking attempt was 27.60% for all the students; the smoking attempt rate of the boy students was significantly higher than that of the girl students (46.43% vs. 8.85%, χ² = 645.242; P < 0.001) and the rate of urban students was significantly higher than that of the rural students (36.42% vs. 26.18%, χ² = 22.951; P < 0.001). Significantly higher rates of smoking attempt were observed among the students exposed to second-hand smoke at home (38.89% vs. 21.34%, χ² = 140.255) and to tobacco advertising/promotion (30.51% vs. 12.81%, χ² = 78.741) compared to those among the students without the exposures (both P < 0.001); significantly higher rates of smoking attempt were also observed among the students being able to buy cigarettes in retail outlets nearby the school (53.47% vs. 23.34%, χ² = 400.824) and among the students having seen peers’ smoking on campus (35.42% vs. 16.19%, χ² = 162.123) than among the students being unable to do and not having seen (both P<0.001). The results of multivariate analysis demonstrated that male gender, high grade of study, with large amount of pocket money, exposed to second-hand smoke at home, exposed to tobacco advertising/promotion, being able to buy cigarettes in retail outlets nearby the school, being a urban student, having seen smoking behavior of a teacher, having seen someone smoking on campus, and with smokers in peers were risk factors for smoking attempt among junior high school students in Tibet.

  Conclusion  Smoking attempt rate is high and influenced by individual, familial, social, school, and peer factors among junior high school students in Tibet. The results suggest that comprehensive intervention should be adopted in tobacco control among the students.