PATTERN OF TOBACCO USE AMONG ADOLESCENT IN INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE KALANKI NEPAL

Abstract

Tobacco use among the adolescent is a growing public health problem and one of the great concern all over the world. This study was embarked on patterns of tobacco use among adolescent of International college, Nepal. In this cross –sectional study face to face interview method was used with the help of expert trained interview done of 380 adolescents in the international college. Purposive sampling method was done to choose the college in Kalanki, which is one of the ward in the central region of Nepal i.e. Kathmandu. Descriptive data like socio-demographic variables were analyzed using descriptive frequency, percentage and the association of the dependent and independent variable was analyzed by chi-square. The overall prevalence of tobacco use among the male and female adolescent were high. Eighty eight percent of the male and female adolescent were found to be current smokers. The most common form of tobacco used was burning tobacco( mostly cigarette – 70%) compared to smokeless tobacco (27%). Living with parents and friends (40%) had influence on the tobacco use of the adolescent and the adolescent living with parents (27%) consumed smokeless tobacco highly. Having tobacco users among family and friends highly influenced (p-value 0.00 < 0.001) with the use of tobacco among the adolescents. The availability/ accessibility (50%) of tobacco had high influence on the types, amount and frequency of the tobacco used . Fifty percent of the adolescents responded that they can easily access tobacco whenever they need. Though there were laws on ban on tobacco advertisement ,50% of the adolescent have seen tobacco advertisement in the magazines/newspaper which shows that the law has not been implemented strictly. The amount of pocket money (50%) given to the adolescent also increased the use of tobacco more frequently (5-6 times per day).This research reports that there can be different policies and programs that can be conducted by the government, community and the schools to decline the use of tobacco i.e enforcing strict laws, increasing tax and dissuading tobacco hazardous message through anti-tobacco programs which include the youths.