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Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able underatand the prevalence of cigarette smoking among military junior high school in Taiwan.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to explore the related factors of cigarette smoking among military junior high school in Taiwan.
Method: Cross-sectional and a two-stage sampling design was conducted between September 1 and November 30, 2005. A total of 872 military students were recruited in this survey. Data were collected by the Chinese version of Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) designed by the WHO and CDC / USA. Data were analyzed using percentage, mean, standard deviation, frequency, t-test, Chi-Square, and were weighted to adjust for sample selection (school) and non-response (school and individual levels). The computer program SAS v9.13 was used to compute weighted rate and 95% confidence intervals.
Results: There were 11.6% of students reporting to current smoke cigarette, and 9.41% nonsmokers are susceptible to smoke. With regard to exposure to secondhand smoke, 37.76% students exposed to secondhand smoke in homes and 20.31% in school. The most reasons to smoke cigarette was curiosity (67.8%), and most respondents disclosed that the main source of cigarette was available from friends, classmates or colleague (59.49%). In addition, 25.31% students were intent to quitting cigarette within one year in future. Exposure to secondhand smoke and friend's smoking status were associated with students' current smoking behavior.
Conclusions: Tobacco control and prevention strategies proved to be vital since peer influence and exposure to secondhand smoke were the major predictors in Taiwanese military senior high school students.
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