FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ADOPTION OF SMOKING BEHAVIOUR AMONG OUT-OF-SCHOOL ADOLESCENTS IN ADO-ODO/OTA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Smoking among young people is an important public health problem. A lot of researches on smoking have been conducted on adolescents who are in schools, but those who are out of school have received scanty attention. The study objective was to document the factors influencing the adoption and maintenance of smoking behaviour among adolescents aged 10-20 years who are currently out of school but in one occupation or the other in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area (LGA). The study is descriptive with a cross-sectional approach. The LGA has six (6) health districts out of which three (3) were randomly selected. An inventory of occupational locations of these adolescents was conducted in the districts. One thousand two hundred and sixty-three (1,263) locations covering thirteen (13) occupations were obtained. Five hundred (500) locations were randomly selected as sample based on the proportions of locations per occupation. The inclusion criteria for the respondents were: Age range of 10 -20 years; current out-of-school status and the subject must be involved in one of the occupations. One person was interviewed from each location by trained interviewers using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 442 (88.4%) males and 58 (11.6%) females were interviewed. The results showed that the mean age of the respondents is 18 years with S.D. of 2.1. A total of 124 (24.8%) respondents are current and 114 (22,8%) past smokers while 262 (52,4%) have never smoked. Of the 124 current smokers, 121 (97.6%) are males while 3(2.4%) are females. The corresponding percentages for past smokers are 88.6% and 11.4%. The mean age of exposure is 9years with a S.D. of 15.5 and was through friends 111 (47.2%), media 42(17.9%) and parents 27(11.5%) p = 0.00096. Among occupational groups, current smoking rates were: bus conductors 100%. Motorcyclists 80%. Welders 48.3%, printers 33.3%. Vehicle repairers 26.4% and hair-dressers 3.75 (p = 0.00000). Of the current smokers 61 (49.2%) have parents who smoke while 63(50.8%) have non-smoking parents. Among past smokers. 92(80.7%) have parents who do not smoke. while 22(19.3%) have smoking parents 0.0000016. Among adolescents who maintained smoking 53 (85.5%) have friends who smoke while 9 (14.5%) do not have p= 0.039). Of continuous smokers, 35 (56.5%) have masters who smoke while 27 (43.5%) don't have. In conclusion, the adoption and maintenance of smoking behaviour is associated with social influences that include parents, friends and masters. Exposure to smoking is early and friends, media as well as parents were the main sources. Health education strategies for reducing the adoption of smoking behavior should target these social influences.