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Ibrahim
IAE
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Smoking Prevalence, Its Motives and
Association with Academic Performance among the Students of
Medicine and Science Colleges at Albaha University, |
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Ibrahim A. Eljack Ibrahim1*, Eltayeb A. Mustafa Abdelkhalig2, Amjed Alshehri3, Turki Alzahrani3, Mohammad Alghamdi3, Ahmad Alzahrani3 and Abdullah Shakhas3 |
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1Department
of Community and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Baha
University, Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia Accepted March 29, 2016 |
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Abstract |
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Smoking is
considered as a major health problem causing a public health
threat, which is gradually increasing all over the world leading
to high mortality and morbidity. The present study was conducted
to estimate the prevalence of smoking, its motivating factors
and its relation with the academic performance of the students
of Medicine and Science colleges of Al-Baha University in Al-Baha,
Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional survey was conducted during the
period from the beginning of December 2015 to the end of
February 2016 in Al-Baha University, Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia.
Simple random sampling technique of male undergraduate students
from the medicine and science colleges was used. Presenting a
pretested online questionnaire for 552 under graduated male
students for data collection. The students’ age ranged between
18 and 26 years and their mean age was 21.5 years ±1.6 SD. The
overall prevalence of smoking was estimated to be 46.4%. More
than one third of the smokers (38%) were smoking because of
boredom and imitating their friends, followed by 23% of them
because of study overload, imitating their friends, because of
boredom and imitating their families. Smoking was more prevalent
among science college students rather than faculty of medicine
students (P-value < 0.001) and significant associations were
found between type of college and number of cigarettes smoked
per day (P-value < 0.001), when the student initiated smoking
(P-value = 0.001), and motives of smoking (P-value < 0.001).
Moreover, smoking was more prevalent among students in the fifth
and sixth level of the study (P-value < 0.001) and significant
associations were found between level of the study and number of
cigarettes smoked per day (P-value = 0.001), when the student
initiated smoking (P-value < 0.001), and motives of smoking
(P-value < 0.001). Inconsistent with previous studies, we found
that smoking was more prevalent among the students with the
average and very good academic grade (P-value < 0.001).
Moreover, significant association between academic achievements
and when the student initiated smoking was found (P-value <
0.001). The prevalence of smoking was very high among the study
population and the initiation of the smoking earlier with high
number of cigarettes smoked per day was alarming. Imitating
their friends, boredom, study overload and imitating other
family’s members were found as the main motives of the students
to smoke. Unlike previous studies’ findings, smoking found to be
more prevalent among students with good academic performance and
the prevalence increase steadily with the presence of smoking
relatives. Health and higher education authorities need to
design an appropriate and effective antismoking promoting
program addressing its motivating factors and rapidly increasing
prevalence. Health laws should be the cornerstones for any
organized tobacco control activities, which are urgently needed
to prevent the coming smoking-related health catastrophes. It is
of high concern to change the students understanding about the
future adverse effects of smoking even if it is associated with
good academic achievements. |
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