Tobacco use among high school children in Bangalore, India: A study of knowledge, attitude and practice

Tobacco use among school children is becoming a serious problem in developing countries. The early age of initiation underscores the urgent need to intervene and protect this vulnerable group from becoming victims of this addiction.

To assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices about tobacco use among 13-15 year old school children of Bangalore City.

A cross-sectional study was designed and data on tobacco usage was collected from 1288 students aged 13-15 years studying in six government and private schools of Bangalore using a self-administered closed ended questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS 15.0 and descriptive statistics was applied. Chi-square tests were used to determine the significant differences in the variables of interest.

Out of 1288 children, 1281 (99.5%) children had heard about tobacco and 1162 (90.2%) students knew the harmful effects of tobacco. Only 28 (2.2%) had used tobacco products. Peer pressure was the main reason for tobacco use among children and age was not a barrier in buying tobacco products. Television (58%) was the main source of information for tobacco products followed by newspapers (26%) and movies (16%).

It is encouraging to find that majority of the 13-15 year old children surveyed in the present study did not use tobacco and were aware of the health risks associated with tobacco use. This calls for the school authorities to be included in stricter implementation and monitoring of the implementation of legislation. Regular and systematic education programs catering to teachers, children, and also their parents should be undertaken.