Singapore Youth Tobacco Survey 2000

Introduction
In 2000, a school-based youth tobacco survey was conducted among 13,111
secondary one to four students. The objectives of the study were to:

a. determine the prevalence of smoking among secondary one to four students

b. assess students? attitude, knowledge and behaviour related to smoking and
environmental tobacco smoke exposure

Key Findings

1. Prevalence

1.1 Among the respondents, 26% have tried or ever smoked cigarettes (including
just one or two puffs).
1.2 The majority of secondary school students do not smoke. 11.1% of the
respondents (13.4% of boys and 8.8% of girls) smoked on at least one day in
the past month . Only 2.4% of the respondents (3.5% of boys and 1.3% of
girls) smoked on all 30 days in the past month.

2. Smoking Behaviour

2.1 The main reasons given for starting to smoke were to relax or relieve stress,
"curiosity or for fun" and to "follow friends". The reasons for smoking did
not differ between the boys and girls.
2.2 On the days that smokers smoked in the past month, 72.5% smoked 5 or
fewer cigarettes. More males (30.8%) than females (22.3%) smoked 6 or
more cigarettes per day.
2.3 The majority of smokers smoked in public places (63.9%). Only 12.6%
smoked at home and 4% smoked at their friends? homes.
2.4 Half the current smokers bought their cigarettes from a shop or a store.
21.9% got their cigarettes from their friends and 11.2% asked someone else
to buy cigarettes for them.
2.5 One in five smokers always feel like having a cigarette the first thing in the
morning, indicating probable dependency on cigarettes.

3. Knowledge & Attitude

 3.1 The majority (89.7%) of the respondents think that smoking is definitely
harmful to their health. Even among the smokers, the majority (65.7%) think
that smoking is definitely harmful to their health, and only less than 10%
think that it is not harmful to their health. Significantly more non-smokers
(94.3%) than smokers think that smoking is definitely harmful to their
health.
3.2 More smokers (9.4%) than non-smokers (1.7%) think that it is definitely safe
to smoke for a year or two as long as they quit after that. Only 27% of
smokers compared to 76.2% of non-smokers think that it is definitely not
safe to smoke even for only one year or two.

4. Environmental Tobacco Use & Social Environment

4.1 Smokers are more likely to come from environments where people smoke:

o Smokers (54.1%) are more likely to come from families with

at least one parent smoking compared to non-smokers (32.1%).
o Smokers (33.7%) are more likely to have an older sibling who
smokes compared to non-smokers (9.5%).
o Smokers (54.9%) are more likely to have half or more than
half of their close friends who smoke compared to non-smokers
(4.2%).

o 88.3% of smokers are exposed to other smokers at places

other than their homes in the past 7 days compared to 61.6% of non-
smokers.
4.2 Only slightly more than half the smokers think that secondhand smoke is
harmful compared to 82.8% of non-smokers. However, about 32.6% of
smokers indicated that secondhand smoke is probably harmful and only
5.2% think that it is definitely not harmful.

5. Cessation

5.1 Among smokers, about 63.3% want to stop smoking. More than three-
quarters of the smokers have tried to stop smoking during the past year.
5.2 About one in three former smokers indicated that they stopped smoking to
improve their health. Other main reasons given for stopping smoking were
friends? disapproval, to save money, family disapproval and having been
caught smoking.