Assessment of Knowledge, Health Belief and Patterns of Cigarette Smoking Among Adolescents

Background & Objectives: When smoking is initiated at a young age, the risks of heavy smoking and nicotine dependence increases, Furthermore, among those with early onset of cigarette smoking, cessation would be more difficult. The purpose of this study was the assessment of health belief and patterns of cigarette smoking among adolescent students. Materials & Methods: This research is an analytical and descriptive sectional study, carried out on 250 male students (15-19 years) of Zarandieh city high schools. Data collection was done by GYTS questionnaire which consist of twelve health belief question about cigarette smoking. Data analysis was performed using t-test and chi-square. P-value less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: The mean age of participants was 16.47 ± 1.13 years. The prevalence of cigarette smoking experience was 46% and water pipe use was 65%. The age of smoking onset was 12-15 years in 30.4% of the smokers. Among the smokers, 81% believed that smoking is harmful to health, 93.0% believed that they were able to quit smoking, 41% had tried to quit smoking. The significant differences between mean score of health beliefs about smoking among the smokers and nonsmokers were (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The prevalence of smoking experience is high among Zarandieh adolescents. Therefore, it is necessary to develop more effective strategies for smoking prevention and cessation.