Frequency of tobacco use among students in Varamin city: Results of the first phase of the PAD project study (Tobacco Use Prevention in Schools)

Smoking among adolescents is a matter of concern that has attracted the attention of many officials and experts in various fields such as health-care, psychology, and sociology. This study was conducted in 2019 to evaluate the status of smoking in students at the individual and familial levels.

This study was performed based on the analysis of the results of the first phase of the PAD project (Tobacco Use Prevention in Schools) which is being carried out by cohort method in the city of Varamin (Tehran province) and four phases on male and female students. In the first phase, 920 students were selected through the stratified sampling method. The data collection instrument in this study was a localized version of a questionnaire of the World Health Organization. Questionnaire questions were scored on a Likert scale (1 to 5). The validity of the questionnaire was determined using the opinion of experts as well as calculating the content validity index and content validity ratio index. The reliability of the questionnaire was also confirmed by calculating Cronbach's alpha (0.703).

The frequency of hookah and cigarette use was23.6% and6.9%, respectively. Also, 55.4% of students smoked in places such as parks, cafes, and coffee shops and 49.7% reported curiosity as the most important reason for tobacco consumption. Also, 21.2% and35.1%of their close friends consumed cigarettes and hookah, respectively. The frequency of hookah and cigarette smoking in their consanguineous and affinal relatives was 51% and 45.8%, respectively. Awareness of second-hand smoke was poor in these students

The social ugliness of cigarette smoking among students and those around them was more than hookah use so that hookah uses among students, their close friends, and their relatives was more than cigarette use. Indeed, hookah use has often become a norm among students and their relatives.