Children's Opinions and Attitudes About Smoking

A SELF-ADMINISTERED questionnaire on smoking was carried out on 4106 Form IV school children in A Kuala Lumpur. This study deals with the beliefs, opinions, attitudes and some factors influencing these attitudes of children towards smoking. The main reason for initiation was curiosity. The main reason for not smoking was that it is bad for health, but a majority of future smokers also gave this reason for their current non-smoking status. Knowledge alone is not enough to prevent children from smoking. The study recommends that health education in schools should also concentrate on the immediate effects of smoking and should relate it to self image. Both parents and schools should play a role in disciplining and instilling the right values and attitudes and teaching assertive skills to children. Laws to control advertisements by tobacco companies, health warnings on the hazards of smoking, prohibition of sale of tobacco to school children and restricting the sale of tobacco to licensed outlets only were also recommended.