Smoking cigarettes among junior high school students in Szczecin

Introduction. It is generally known that smoking cigarettes is hazardous to health, but young people still choose to start smoking when they
are relatively young. It is curiosity and the desire to impress peers with hip behaviour that affect their decision to try a cigarette.

Aim of the study. The objective of the study was to analyse the reasons, frequency and venues of cigarette smoking among the student of
junior high schools in Szczecin. The authors also aimed at finding out what teenagers think about the smoking prevention measures.

Material and methods. The survey covered 918 students of junior high schools in Szczecin, 58% of girls and 42% of boys aged 13–15. The
authors used a questionnaire which was later statistically processed by means of the STATISTICA 6.0 programme. The differences between
parameters were analysed with the Pearson’s Chi-square test, while the correlations — with the Spearman rank test. The differences were
considered statistically significant when their significance level was lower than 0.05.

Results and conclusions. Half of the surveyed teenagers have tried smoking cigarettes at least once. 49.4% of girls and 51.2% of boys have
never smoked, while 21% of junior high school teenagers smoke regularly. Youth smoking affects more boys than girls: 24.1% and 17.6%
respectively (p < 0.02). The most popular form is social smoking (69%). A significantly large number of teenagers smoke at school during
breaks (62%) and 48% declare that they do that because of boredom. Young people often try smoking cigarettes. The main reasons for
youth smoking are: following fashion, boredom and peer pressure. Youngster claim that smoking strengthens their position in a peer group.
In their efforts to stop smoking they value the opinion of their peers but would seek help with their parents.