A comparison of smoking and drinking among Asian and white schoolchildren in Glasgow

A self-completion questionnaire survey of 385 Asian and white schoolchildren, aged 13 to 16 years, was conducted at three Glasgow schools, and a number of health and social issues were studied. The aims of this study included not only the provision of baseline data on smoking and drinking, and general health and social issues among schoolchildren, but was also to examine the implications for health education and health services. The response rate was 362/385 (94%) and important differences were observed between the two groups. In particular, Asians were less likely to smoke or drink, and their attitudes towards these drugs were, broadly, negative. However, it is emphasised that the Asian community in Britain is heterogeneous and the data from Glasgow cannot be mechanistically extrapolated to other Asian communities in Britain. The results of the study provided information on the beliefs, attitudes and behaviour of Glasgow schoolchildren and gave new data on their drinking and smoking habits, especially of Asians. Health education needs to take into account ethnic differences among schoolchildren as part of a broad, materialist approach rather than an individual-based behaviouralist approach to health education.