Smoking behaviour and respiratory health in teenage sample: the rotorua lakes study, 1

Abstract

A survey in a New Zealand high school compared boys and girls, Maori and European, aged 13 to 15 years, and found differences in smoking habits. Smoking was most prevalent in Maori students of both sexes, and least in European girls, who appeared to be most influenced by home factors such as father's occupational status and older siblings' habits. Maori students and European boys showed relationships rather to the habits of the peer group. Findings were comparable with earlier studies suggesting little secular change in the smoking habits of this age group. Current smokers in all sex/race groups had higher current respiratory morbidity scores than non-smokers and ex-smokers, and smoking partly accounted for racial differences in morbidity.