Survey of Secondary School Students in Zhengzhou: 26.4% Have Tried Smoking

On the evening of September 18, the Zhengzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention released the results of a survey on smoking among secondary school students in Zhengzhou. The results showed that 26.4% of students had tried smoking, and the proportion rose steadily from the first year of junior high school to the third year of senior high school.

The first cigarette was mainly out of curiosity

According to the survey conducted by the city CDC, 26.4% of students had tried smoking, and the proportion increased gradually from junior high first-year students to senior high third-year students. When asked why they smoked for the first time, curiosity ranked first at 51.2%, followed by being in a bad mood, then being offered a cigarette by peers or other reasons.

Main source of cigarettes: buying them themselves

As for where the cigarettes came from, more than half of the students bought them from stores, while nearly 20% got them from other people. Among students who had bought cigarettes, 94.2% said they could buy them very easily, while only a small minority were refused a sale or advised not to smoke.

Analysis: Secondary school students face heavy pressure and are more likely to smoke

According to a relevant official from the Public Health Institute of the city CDC, secondary school students are in adolescence and are curious about new things, while smoking, as a common social behavior in society, is easily imitated. In addition, secondary school students face heavy academic pressure and must cope with stress from family, school, society, and other sources. Their emotions tend to fluctuate greatly, and they often lack healthy outlets for release, leading them to try smoking. Among high school students, in addition to curiosity and being in a bad mood, being offered cigarettes by peers also accounted for a certain proportion of first-time smoking. Since smoking can be seen as a way to fit in with peers, peers who smoke can lead them to smoke as well.

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Recommendation: Families and schools should reduce exposure to smoking environments

Among adolescents who smoke, more than half had discussed smoking with their parents. Among those who had discussed smoking with their parents, most said they would not continue smoking and believed that smoking also made other people feel uncomfortable. The Public Health Institute of the city CDC recommends making full use of the important role of families in smoking education for secondary school students and reducing smoking environments. Schools should also effectively carry out campus tobacco control education, which can significantly reduce both the rate of trying smoking and the actual smoking rate among students.