Smoking Status and Dietary Habits of Middle School Students

Jung, Eun Hee

Abstract

Adolescent smoking has been a great concern with respect to it's causing more serious health problems than adult smoking. The smoking status and habits of middle school students were studied using anonymous questionnaires, and their dietary habits were compared. Ninety-two of 4l4 students (22.2%) had experienced smoking, and 62.0% of them began in primary school, mostly out of curiosity. The most plausible reasons for smoking were 'boredom' and/or 'stress reduction'. Dietary habits were generally inadequate in the smoking group. Compared with the non-smoking group, the smoking group paid less attention to a balanced diet, more skipped breakfasts, more had irregular meal times and fewer snacked. There was no significant difference between the smoking and non-smoking groups in food intake frequency, except of sweet foods and caffeinated foods, which were more frequent consumed by the smoking group. These results suggest that more attention needs to be paid to nutrition and health education programs in elementary schools and also that proper support programs for smoking by themselves.