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Patterns Of Smoking And Health Risk Perception Of Out-of-school Youths
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Like other developing countries, the most susceptible age for initiating
tobacco has been found between the ages of 15-24 years as evident in
the study by Gboyega, Adesegun and Chikezie (2013) identifying youths as
a major group involved in smoking over the last two decades, an age
group where most are expected to be in school. Educational attainment is
widely regarded as an important health risk factor because of how
strongly it has been associated with health outcomes, health-related
behaviors, and other risk factors (National Center for Health
Statistics, 1999). For the past 30 years, smoking prevention programmes
have been focused almost exclusively upon youth, mainly within the
school setting (Backinger, 2003; Ekanem, 2008; Salawu, Danburam &
Isa, 2010; Fawibe & Shittu, 2011; Hammond, 2005; Nwafor, Ibe &
Aguwa, 2012; Odukoya, Odeyemi & Oyeyemi, 2013; Okagua, Opara &
Alex-Hart, 2015) despite School dropouts being more likely to smoke
heavily than students (Aloise-Young, Cruickshank & Chavez, 2002). In
Nigeria, the prevalence of tobacco use among youth tends to be higher
than among adults (Odukoya, Odeyemi, Oyeyemi & Updhyay, 2013).
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Smoking
among youths has been on an increase worldwide (Pomara, Cassano,
D’Errico, Bello, Romano & Riezzo et al, 2012) with values ranging
from 721 million in 1980 to 967 million in 2012 (Marie, 2013). Studies
have revealed that there has been a high increase in the prevalence rate
of smoking among youth in sub-Saharan Africa (Shafey, Dolwick &
Guindon, 2012) and Nigeria precisely (Drope, 2011; Yahya, Hammangabdo
& Omotara, 2010), with statistics showing that youths form over 40%
of the Nigerian population and 18% of the youths smoke, identifying
youths as a major group involved in smoking over the last two decades
(Gboyega, Adesegun & Chikezie, 2013).
Smokers’ low perception of
the negative effects of their smoking behavior on their health also
results in many of them being unwilling to quit smoking with most of
them expressing a sense of invincibility to the hazards of smoking
(Fawibe & Shittu, 2011). Studies have shown that individuals who
perceive fewer risks and greater benefits of smoking are more
susceptible to initiation (Song, Morrell, Cornell, Ramos, Biehl, Kropp
& Halpern-Felsher, 2009). Literatures have shown that perceptions
about health risks influence cigarette smoking among youths (Aryal,
Petzold & Krettek, 2013; Mantler, 2013). Further studies have also
shown that each day, more than 3,200 people under 18 smoke their first
cigarette, and approximately 2,100 youth and young adults become daily
smokers.
Furthermore, studies have indicated that as at 2012 it was
noted that death as a result of non-communicable diseases (respiratory
tract infection inclusive), accounted for 2.7 million deaths in
sub-Saharan Africa with the inclusion of Nigeria as a result of smoking
(WHO, 2000-2012). Also literature has shown that nearly 9 out of 10 lung
cancers are caused by smoking and smokers today are much more likely to
develop lung cancer than smokers were in 1964 (Siegel, Miller, Jemal,
2016). In Nigeria and worldwide smoking causes many types of cancer,
including cancers of the throat, mouth, nasal cavity, esophagus,
stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder, and cervix, as well as acute myeloid
leukemia (Jha, Ramasundarahettige & Landsman, 2013). Also studies
still shows that 8 out of 10 COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary
Disease) deaths are a result of smoking and currently, there is no cure
for COPD (Madu, Matla, 2014).
In spite of the passage of the National
Tobacco Control Bill by the National Assembly in Nigeria, a bill aimed
at domesticating WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to
avert the unimaginable disaster associated with smoking many youth are
still caught in the web of the act, thereby endangering their lives. It
will therefore be of immense benefit to investigate patterns of smoking
and health risk perception of out-of-school youths in selected motor
parks in Oshodi local government area of Lagos state, Nigeria.
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